Non Profits Fight Back Against Paterson's Budget Axe

When the New York legislature comes into session next week, Governor Paterson is ready to cut, cut, cut without any tax increases. In fact, the most money being chopped is from where it hurts the middle class and the working poor the most, specifically from education and health care programs. Education is what gives our children a chance and health care is what helps to keep us healthy without having to go completely broke or extremely in debt to get it. Well our city and state's best advocates have gotten together and are telling the Governor there is a better way.

From The PolitickerNY:

ALBANY—A coalition of social service groups attacked David Paterson's latest round of proposed budget cuts, and offered their own three-point plan for closing the enormous deficit.

The coalition—which claims to represent 200 nonprofit and faith-based service-providing groups around the state—said just reducing spending will "devastate" New York's future.

The group's plan first calls for instituting the so-called "millionaire's tax," which would raise taxes on the highest income earner (it's also the object of much spirited debate). Second, they would lobby hard for federal assistance, which Paterson has already done, though it's far from a sure thing. Third, they are asking Paterson to dip into the Tax Stabilization Reserve Fund—a pot of just over $1 billion that is set aside for unplanned expenditures. (Paterson said previously that opening the fund would be "a drop in the bucket" and that the root of the problem lay in excessive spending.)

"For too long, we've allowed the wealthiest New Yorkers to not pay their fair share," said Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, pointing to Paterson's rejection of broad tax increases to generate more revenue.

A drop in the bucket is what Wall Street thinks of a billion dollars, but to the very least amongst us, saving programs that keep kids out of trouble and the disabled is akin to a flood of money. Especially in bad times, people hardly have enough to keep their families together and we need to take care of them first, not those that are worried about selling their pied-a-terre or docking rights at the yacht club. Not only should they be subjected to a millionaire's tax, but it should be the goal of the Democratic majority to pass a more progressive income tax so that everyone pays their fair share in good times and bad.

Debate To Tax The Rich Heats Up

As the budget deadline looms near, everyone in New York is looking to get their agenda accomplished. Bloomberg is working hard on congestion pricing, some legislators are looking to get paid more and a Working Families Party idea to raise the tax on millionaires is making its way through the process. Since things are still uncertain, we are hearing a lot from those that want to see the massive budget gap partially filled by this tax and those (the rich) that do not. The ads have already started appearing for congestion pricing and now we have those in favor of the millionaires tax.

From The Daily News:

The one-minute spot starts airing today - just as state lawmakers are back in Albany with one week to go until the April 1 budget deadline - and will remain on the air "for a while," according to Ron Deutsche, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.

The spot, entitled "Tough All Over," notes how the cost of gas and health insurance keeps escalating, which is allegedly squeezing the middle class nearly out of existence as "the rich are getting richer" and "the wealthiest New Yorkers just aren't paying their fair share."

"A national recession means out state's budget is in trouble," the ad continues. "Some Albany leaders want to cut funding for hospitals and nursing homes and reduce money for schools and colleges. There is a better choice. By raising taxes on people who earn over a million dollars a year, we can protect education and save quality healthcare. Taxing millionaires or cutting schools and health care - that's an easy choice."

Sure, its a little deceptive, but sometimes its hard to fit all the details into thirty seconds and get your point across. The facts are that the middle and working classes are punished in more ways than just taxes and the rich have plenty of money in order to live comfortably. The complaints from the wealthy fall on mostly deaf ears across the state, considering the burgeoning number of foreclosures, rising gas prices and a whole host of issues in this declining economy.

If lawmakers are smart, they'll include this in the budget since their constituents want it. According to the Quinnipac survey , 77 percent of people support it. Not only is it popular, it'll make a billion and a half dollar difference in these hard times. Despite the assumption that the rich will leave NY (which isn't true), it is more important that the burden of the recession not be placed on the people that have always taken the brunt of bad times, those who make way less than a million dollars a year.