Gov. Paterson Admits Taxing Rich Not A Great Idea

I told you so. Conservatives and fiscally responsible people told them so, but the New York State politicians didn't care. They wanted their tax hikes on the rich, so the rich did what they can always do.

They moved. They also took jobs with them. Even Governor Paterson had to admit as much:

"You heard the mantra, 'Tax the rich, tax the rich,' " Gov. David Paterson said Wednesday at a gathering of newspaper editors at an Associated Press event in Syracuse. "We've done that. We've probably lost jobs and driven people out of the state."

"People aren't wedded to a geographic place as they once were. It's a different world," New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch said.

Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano, the Paychex founder and billionaire who was paying $13,000 a day in New York income taxes, and media mogul Rush Limbaugh became ex-New Yorkers this year.

Developer and New York icon Donald Trump told Fox News in April that the higher tax rates were "a total disaster for the state" and have spurred several of his millionaire pals to talk about leaving.

Well, what is the state going to go and do now that they've got a $3 billion deficit on the current fiscal year? Their only recourse is to try and seriously cut spending, rather than looking for tax hikes in all the wrong places. That's the only way to get businesses to stick around and to maintain the tax base.

After all, the reason the state is in the dire fiscal straits is because of the Wall Street woes and the loss of billions in revenues that the Wall Street businessmen and captains of industry spend throughout the state and pay in taxes.