EDITORIAL: Read our lips: No new taxes

Editorials

January 20, 2010

Staff Reports The Niagara Gazette Wed Jan 20, 2010, 07:19 PM EST

When The Associated Press has to put out a whole sidebar on proposed taxes from Gov. David Paterson and his 2010-11 budget, you know there’s a problem.

Just the fact that there are enough new tax proposals to make it a list and not just a mention is enough for us to run and hide.

See below for the list of proposals.

The bottom line is this: To think that raising taxes is going to solve the state’s problems is just ridiculous. It’s a cop-out, actually.

The true way to save this state is through cuts. Look in the mirror and make the necessary cuts and save the taxpayer through less spending.

Look, there aren’t many private sector industries that haven’t felt the economic downturn impact. Be it layoffs, business closures, furloughs, pay cuts, benefit cuts — you name it, businesses have made the necessary, but never easy, changes to try and stay afloat.

Impacted are the workers at these businesses.

But New York’s elected officials see themselves differently. People like Paterson — and he’s not alone — don’t look to cuts, first, but instead to taxes on syrup and cigarettes. Other states — well, maybe all except California — must be laughing as they read the stories out of New York.

No one wants to see anyone lose their job or have their pay cut, but if the private sector is asking to work less or make less, what makes our state employees immune? State leadership needs to grow a backbone and cut what needs to be cut and stop the spending.

Tax proposals

A look at nearly $1 billion in new taxes and fees proposed by Gov. David Paterson in his 2010-2011 budget for the fiscal year that begins April 1.

• A $1 tax increase on a pack of cigarettes, raising the state total to $3.75 per pack. That’s expected to raise $218 million the first year.

• A new $7.68 per gallon excise tax on beverage syrups and $1.28 per gallon on bottled soft drinks and powders, raising $465 million.

• A 0.75 percent hospital assessment on inpatient revenue, up from 0.35 percent, raising $130 million.

• A 7 percent nursing home services assessment, up from 6 percent, raising $67.8 million.

• A 9.63 percent surcharge on services performed in hospitals, extending it to surgery and radiology performed in private ambulatory centers, doctors’ offices and urgent care settings, raising $24.6 million.

• A 0.7 percent home care provider revenue assessment, up from 0.35 percent, raising $17.6 million

• A 3 percent tax on natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier and in central New York using horizontal wells, raising $1 million starting in 2011-2012.

• Ending forbearance on sales of unstamped tobacco products to Indian retailers. No revenue estimate.

• Increasing civil filing fees from $165 to $215 and motion fees from $45 to $120 in state Supreme Court and the filing fee in city and district courts from $45 to $60 to help support indigent services and offset judicial costs.

• Setting a sliding scale of parental fees for early intervention services based on income, beginning at 251 percent of the federal poverty level, and ranging from $45 to $540 per child quarterly.

• Eliminating tax loopholes for non-residents, with payments for past services, such as termination pay taxable, along with S-Corporation gains and installment income.

Source: New York Budget Division

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