The sky is falling
As the state edges its way closer to the precipice, it looks like it”™s desperate times for Gov. David Paterson.
After another stinging poll found his job performance at record lows, the governor last week took to sending emails as a means of garnering support for his budget deficit proposal.
The letter-length messages came shortly after state Budget Director Robert Megna sounded the klaxon on the life expectancy of the state budget. Let”™s put it this way, there will be no cheer this holiday season, unless state lawmakers realize that their action ”“ or inaction ”“ could very well spell how they fare without a job in Albany come next year”™s elections.
“Unless action is taken to address New York”™s current-year budget deficit, our state government is likely to face significant cash-flow difficulties beginning in December,” Megna said in a statement.
Significant?
How about no cash?
He daintily dances around that later in his statement: “Based on current revenue trends, the state may not have the resources necessary to make all of those expenditures.”
The expenditures he refers to are $2.5 billion for the STAR tax rebate program, $1.6 billion for school districts, $500 million for city governments and $500 million for counties.
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Megna goes on to say: “If no corrective action is taken, we will have to begin to make difficult choices about which payments to delay. These delays could create a trickledown effect on local governments and service providers across the state as those organizations continue to face similar cash-flow difficulties of their own. And if revenues further deteriorate beyond current projections, the state”™s cash-flow difficulties may become even more severe.”
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We think you can drop the conditional “may” and just say “cash-flow difficulties will become even more severe.”
In his email blast, Paterson re-emphasizes as he did in announcing his plan that it would not impose any new taxes or fees.
“A tax increase would devastate many of New York”™s small businesses ”“ the true engines of growth in our economy. Small businesses employ nearly half of all New Yorkers and spur innovation in our economy. Keeping small businesses open and thriving is a critical part of my job creation plan, and is essential to securing our long-term economic stability.”
He got that right. Kill small businesses and you kill the state.
Paterson goes on to say that his proposed cuts will include transportation.
If you want to help small businesses, get rid of the MTA payroll tax plan for those of us here in the Hudson Valley. Removing that onerous tax from the counties would be beneficial and not a detriment to business.
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Paterson writes, “We cannot continue to use the financial gimmicks that have contributed to the current crisis.”
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Hmm, we didn”™t sign off the budget.
We weren”™t one of the three men in the room.
We didn”™t use one-shot federal stimulus money to prop it up.
Please don”™t talk about gimmicks.
Paterson uses a gimmick in his letter when he asks the reader to “reach out to your state Assembly member and state Senator. Tell them to work with me to reduce spending and promote tax relief.”
With all due respect, you are the governor.
Work with the lawmakers, many your former colleagues, and tell them to get it right.