Paterson Still Undecided On Shared Sacrifice

In the State of the State address Governor Paterson was gung-ho for a nice idea called shared sacrifice. When push comes to shove though, he isn't too sure on exactly who should be sharing that sacrifice. As the Senate Republicans are all too happy to point out, his current plan to tax the middle class will come in at over $3,000 a family (more so if you buy a lot of soft drinks). That of course, alienates a lot of voters. Senate Democrats however, came up with a great idea that mirrors that call Paterson made in his speech that would tax the people that can most afford it. And how does the Governor repay them?

From The NY Daily News:

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson suggested Tuesday he may veto any plan to hike taxes on the wealthy.

"Everybody is trying to find a way that they can keep spending," Paterson complained. "If people think that they are going to create a false economy here by raising taxes ... I am just not going to support this."

Asked specifically if he would veto an income tax hike, Paterson said, "I think I would if there was the type of tax increase that was just designed to re-create spending."

Damn, well that sounds like Senator Schneiderman and his other 17 cosponsors need to go back to the drawing board doesn't it? Oh wait, this is Governor Paterson we're talking about. Well let's see what he said a short time later:

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson refused to rule out a tax hike on the wealthy yesterday, saying he would support an increase only if lawmakers first agreed to spending cuts big enough to signal Albany was "on the road to fiscal discipline.

Well Governor, since the increase in income tax would be about $6 billion...and we have a $13.7 billion dollar budget...I think we can all do the math there. Now Paterson put out a figure saying he wants $11.2 billion dollars in cuts first, but there is always room to negotiate arbitrary numbers such as that one.