The New York Numbers Game

The new New York state budget is a fiasco and is the exact opposite of a fiscally responsible budget. The budget is billions above the amounts that Gov. David Paterson suggested just four months ago. That budget was svelte and responsible in comparison to the monstrosity that Albany conjured up over the weekend in the dead of night as the troika of Paterson, Speaker Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith. This budget is a tax and spend dream, but a nightmare to the taxpayers who will be seeing massive hikes in taxes.

Democratic leaders yesterday released details of a state budget deal that would push spending to a staggering $132 billion next year -- an increase of 10 percent -- while they ask residents to fork over a record-breaking $7.8 billion in taxes and fees.

The huge spending plan is $10.7 billion higher than the bare-bones plan Gov. Paterson released less than four months ago in a call for fiscal austerity.

It comes in the wake of a $4 billion soak-the-rich income-tax hike, the elimination of a $1.5 billion property-tax rebate plan, and $2.3 billion in new and extended business taxes and nuisance fees.

Among other things, the budget would add nickel deposits to bottled water, ratchet up taxes on beer and cigars, and raise income taxes at least 14.5 percent on families making more than $300,000 a year.

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) refused to give up even a dime of the notorious $170 million slush fund lawmakers use to dole out grants to favored nonprofits and community groups.

Meanwhile, lawmakers restored about a third of the spending cuts proposed by Paterson. They rolled back 70 percent of the governor's proposed health-care savings, but accepted some reforms in the way the money gets doled out.

They added $405 million in school aid, which Paterson had hoped to cut by $698 million. In all, they made a record $5.2 billion in program cuts.

Paterson said much of the overall spending increase is due to an influx of federal stimulus funds, and he insisted the budget's architects made "tough choices."

First among the tax hikes is the elimination of the STAR property tax relief program.

There were no cuts to services or the state workforce. It never happened. The money will just get doled out differently, but the amounts are going to remain the same or exceed the levels previously set - an increase in spending.

This is a fiscally irresponsible mess and New York taxpayers and voters have no one to blame but themselves for continuing to vote sheep to the Assembly and Senate who accept their paychecks but do nothing more than rubber stamp the leadership's decisions.

The STAR property tax relief program cost $1.5 billion, and the rebate amounts depend on the school district and income level of the taxpayer. Eliminating that tax relief program is a tax hike on all homeowners.

Failing to cut spending means that taxpayers are shouldering an even higher level of spending over which they have absolutely no control. The state is hiking all manner of taxes and fees to accomplish their higher spending levels, which are unsustainable in a recession and will lead to falling short of budget projections. This is a recipe for disaster for the state.

Attempting to hide the fees and taxes among the $2.3 billion in new and extended business taxes and nuisance fees, including new deposit fees for bottled water (additional expenses to businesses to collect and recycle), ratchet up taxes on beer and cigars, and raise income taxes at least 14.5 percent on families making more than $300,000 a year doesn't make this a fiscally responsible budget. It makes for a bloated mess that relies on the one-shot of federal aid to hide the fact that no serious attempt was made to contain spending.

The GOP losses in 2008 in Albany have meant a surge of lobbyist power and control by Democrats over all the apparatus of Albany operations, and this budget is a product of that mess, combined with the corruption and scandal within the Governor's Office and the Comptroller's Office.

You think people are howling now? Just wait until next year when the real bill comes due and there isn't any financial aid available from the federal government to mask the gaping deficit. New York is following California's path to fiscal oblivion with this budget.