Schumer spokesman: Federal pandemic relief eliminates NYS deficit
By: Carl Campanileand Bernadette Hogan (New York Post)
Yeah, Chuck Schumer certainly doesn't want to raise taxes on the rich. Another Democrat double standard at work.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by the US Senate wipes out New York State's projected budget deficit — possibly negating the need for hefty tax hikes or spending cuts, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office said Monday.
"Ok. Thanks to @SenSchumer NYS budget deficit for this year is…..Zero, nada, niete, zilch (NY terms)," Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro tweeted.
The American Rescue Plan provides state government coffers with $12.6 billion in unrestricted aid, a measure championed by Schumer, the New York senior senator. The measure passed the Senate in a 50-49 vote and is expected to clear the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Tuesday and delivered to President Biden for approval.
Asked if the geyser of pandemic relief eliminates the needs for tax hikes or spending cuts, Roefaro told The Post, "the statement speaks for itself."
Roefaro continued, "How NY decides its budgetary policy is a matter for the state legislature and the administration. Our job was to deliver resources to help NY confront and overcome Covid and it's impacts, including the fiscal impact. And we did that fully and completely."
Facing a multi-billion budget gap and a restive left flank in the state Legislature calling for massive tax increases on the rich, Cuomo proposed raising incomes taxes for the wealthiest New Yorkers to a top rate of 10.86%, up from 8.82%. New York City residents well-to-do pay a combined top state and local income tax rate of 14.7%, the highest rate in the nation.
But one budget analyst said there's now no need for any tax increases at all with the geyser of federal stimulus funding flowing to New York from Washington.
"There's no need for a tax increase," said EJ McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy, who has long claimed that Cuomo was overstating New York's fiscal woes.
He said the income tax on the wealthy proposed by Cuomo as part of his executive budget plan is "no longer necessary."
McMahon said the federal aid is so large that it's enough to avoid major tax hikes for the next two fiscal years.
Asked about Schumer's office claim, Cuomo budget spokesman Freeman Klopott referred to the governor's comments on Sunday, when he said that tax hikes are still on the table despite the influx of funeral funding.
"It is on the table…. It is the difference between $12.5 and $15 [billion]. And don't get me wrong, the $12.5 billion is very, very helpful. But as you know, because I've said it a hundred and fifty times, we needed $15 billion in my opinion," Cuomo said.
"So we do have a gap there, and tax increases are on the table. And they're on the table for the Assembly and the Senate, I'm not speaking for them, they can speak for themselves, but yes, they are on the table, because you have damage to repair."
Cuomo expressed concern about what happens when the one-time infusion of federal cash disappears. Spending has increased during the pandemic despite an economic recession triggered by safety lockdown, a drop in tax revenues and massive layoffs.
McMahon said Cuomo is right to be concerned about what happens beyond the next budget cycle or two. The governor and state lawmakers must craft a new budget by April 1.
But McMahon is also concerned that Cuomo — battered and weakened by multiple sex harassment allegations and nursing home scandals — might acquiesce more to lawmakers' tax and spending wishes than he has in the past. Prominent Democrats — including Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) — are calling on him to resign.
"The question is whether he'll try to buy friends. Folks on the left would love to shake him down," McMahon said.
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Dirty politics at it's finest. You know the Democrat's motto: never let a crisis go to waste.
yeah, we should be subsidizing the wealthy "job creators" with massive tax breaks instead. /s
Isn't that business-as-usual in New York?
Were you able to type that with a straight face or what?
Think of it as a Federal offset for the cap on SALT deductions. Now, when will Minneapolis get 'disaster relief' to pay for BLM burning Lake Street?
Doesn't matter if he provides it. You wouldn't read it anyway.
Yeah, BLM burned Lake Street. There's no proof any other group was involved.
Of course not. Facts to most radical leftists is like garlic to a vampire.
Facts have been provided to you many, many times, however, you admit that you do not read any links that might shed light on those facts.
Too bad for you.
They weren't white supremacists in black face, were they? The Black population should take pride in what they've accomplished.
And never pass up an opportunity to take credit where it's not earned..
It goes underreported in the era of the left.
"The Congressional Budget Office , a non-partisan agency, warns that this mountain of debt will explode interest payments, such that over the next 30 years, taxpayers will have to pony up $61 trillion in interest. (Interest payments, by the way, don’t buy you government services. Interest payments just eat up cash and crowd out other government expenditures.)
By 2050, interest payments will consume nearly half of the entire budget!"
No surprise the reckless spending was bailed out, which will only reward and encourage further bad acting by states like New York and Illinois, which will cause even larger problems when the next recession comes....
So Schumer gives a tax break to the rich in New York and it's all good. At the very least, it's clear the state didn't need this aid.