Cuomo Budget Raises $1 Billion in New Taxes to Pay for Spending Plans

By Tom Precious 

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wants to spend above the rate inflation for education and health care, but make cuts in other areas, all while raising more than $1 billion in new revenues.

That would mean tax hikes on health insurers and freezing breaks for New Yorkers enrolled in the STAR property tax program.

In a relatively somber budget address Tuesday that contained few new spending initiatives, Cuomo said the state faces challenging fiscal times, brought about by lower-than-expected tax revenues and federal funding cuts. That has driven at least a $4.4 billion hole in the 2018 budget, he said, although some legislators said he was exaggerating that figure.

"This year is going to be challenging, my friends,'' Cuomo said in a speech to an audience that included state lawmakers.

Cuomo's budget speech lacked the rhetorical flourishes of many of his past fiscal presentations. One lawmaker heckled him, while others booed and hissed when he discussed his education priorities.

Some lawmakers said Cuomo, angling to keep his name in the list of potential 2020 White House challengers, is intentionally overstating the size of the fiscal problems facing New York as a way to ride to a political victory when the budget is passed later this spring. Or, in the words of Mid-Hudson Valley Republican Sen. John Bonacic, it’s all part of an effort “to make him look presidential.”

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Source: The Buffalo News (via Empire Report New York)