Bloomberg Eyes More Taxes and Revenue Sources

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg continues in his never ending question to find more taxes to hike and more revenue sources to tap. He's all but scuttled a deal to save the city's OTB parlors, because he thinks the city isn't getting enough revenues from the deal that would keep the parlors open along with the 1,500 jobs at risk.

Meanwhile, he's considering scrapping a property tax rebate program and hiking property taxes because the city's fiscal picture remains grim due to the turmoil in the financial markets. It's those financial markets that are the rainmaker for the city - pumping billions into the local economy.

With the economy in the doldrums, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Friday that the city might scrap a popular tax cut for homeowners in 2009 — a step he previously said he would try to avoid.

The mayor’s remarks come as job losses mount on Wall Street and the city faces a $700 million bill for a retroactive raise of nearly 10 percent granted to the roughly 23,000 police officers in May.

But any change in taxes could prove politically tricky. Under pressure to roll back a big property tax increase introduced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the mayor and the City Council trimmed the tax rate by 7 percent a year ago.

Eliminating that reduction would effectively mean a property tax increase that would cost the average New York City homeowner about $200 a year.

This mayor continues to find ways to raise taxes around every corner, and has done little to control the costs of government. He's proposed massive new revenue generation schemes, like the congestion pricing tax, but that got shot down by the Legislature.

Instead of taking a hard look at programs that deserve to be eliminated or scaled back, he's looked at ways to increase tax revenues to the City. Considering that the City has one of the most crushing tax burdens in the nation, increasing that burden only hastens the departure of residents and businesses to far more taxpayer friendly climates.

That means that those remaining taxpayers are forced to pay an ever higher share for services. It's a no win situation for those taxpayers.