PDA

View Full Version : Tax Hikes coming, Gov. Paterson (New York) Warns




Cowlesy
06-24-2010, 07:02 AM
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knickerbocker/tax_hikes_coming_paterson_warns_yNHBexuvszykDwvPWY t4zN


ALBANY – Gov. David Paterson continued his tax talk this morning, warning “there will be some new taxes” in the plan to close a $9.2 billion budget gap.

Paterson said during a pair of radio appearances that he preferred taxes to borrowing $2 billion as proposed by Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch and endorsed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

“Taxes are regrettable,” Paterson told the Albany-area radio station WGY 810-AM. “Certainly we don’t want to increase them at this particular time. But the combination of a few taxes and some rather severe cuts to services I think is the best solution.”



Oh really, Governor Paterson? "Severe cuts to services" must not be too severe if we still have a $2 Billion gap to cover.

Cowlesy
07-01-2010, 10:36 AM
Damn the Torpedoes! Full speed ahead with fattening Government worker pension plans!!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/sickening_sweeteners_pnzCmjDJO9xZ9QUJnBL5SN



As of June 15, at least 50 bills had been introduced in both the Assembly and the Senate to "sweeten" already generous pension and health-insurance benefits for public employees. These are bills that are advanced by legislators on behalf of organized labor outside the collective-bargaining process between unions and governments -- the governments that will have to pay these costs.


Albany's willingness to force higher pension costs onto local governments and taxpayers is one major cause for the relentless rise of property taxes across the state -- an issue that has been one key point of contention in the protracted state budget negotiations.

On top of that, newly enacted pension benefits are protected from future reduction by the state Constitution. Once the higher bill is forced on the taxpayers, it can't be reduced without amending the Constitution -- a political near-impossibility.

The proposed "pension sweetener" bills -- 26 of which are moving forward even as lawmakers fail to pass a state budget -- fall into a number of different categories. Here are some highlights:

Restricting Health-Insurance Options: Unlike pensions, health benefits for retirees are not constitutionally protected and may be changed through bargaining -- but another sweetener would prohibit any reduction in retiree health-insurance benefits. The bill would extend this protection, permanently granted to teachers last year, to other employees, greatly hampering flexibility in managing labor costs.

Presuming Work-related Illness or Injury: These bills extend the automatic assumption that certain ailments of public employees are work-related. Thus, one bill would allow any firefighter and any officer of the State Police who contracts a staph infection -- something that's hardly unknown in civilian life -- to collect a lifetime disability pension at three-quarters salary.

Vesting Health Insurance: Despite the MTA's severe financial crisis -- and related service cuts -- one bill would saddle it with new health-insurance costs by accelerating the vesting of lifetime insurance benefits for employees represented by District Council 37 (and their spouses); the vesting time required would be 10 years instead of 25.

Expanding Variable Supplement Funds: VSFs were established to provide annual payments to New York City police and fire employees on top of their regular pensions; as of fiscal year 2009, this annual payment is $12,000 per retiree. A bill has been introduced that would expand eligibility to those who have retired under disability (and who, therefore, already have more generous benefits) and to the survivors of retirees

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/sickening_sweeteners_pnzCmjDJO9xZ9QUJnBL5SN#ixzz0s RuXmGIX

This state is tragic comedy.

AuH20
07-01-2010, 10:58 AM
Sheldon Silver may not make it out of New York alive at this rate. These politicians are playing with serious fire.

specsaregood
07-01-2010, 11:00 AM
[url]
Oh really, Governor Paterson? "Severe cuts to services" must not be too severe if we still have a $2 Billion gap to cover.

just across the tunnel Christie managed to close a 9billion gap with no new taxes.
He was just on cnbc and hannity yesterday telling patterson to follow his lead.