Just this morning our very own state government affairs director, John Stephenson, was published on Syracuse.com for his commentary on New York State's budgeting woes.
The New York State Legislature has been embattled for months over an outrageous $9 billion budget hole and an apparent desire to tax their way out. In the commentary, John points out a painful if simple truth: Their plan won't work. For decades NY has been shedding citizens to it's (relatively) lighter tax neighbors and the anticipated new tax revenues have turned into taxpayer base losses. The same thing will happen now with their recent $440 million dollar tobacco tax hike and anticipated hike on shoes of all things! It's clear at this point that more tax hikes won't fix the problem, spending cuts will. As John puts it:
"Population decline threatens both New York's economic vitality and political power. Upstate New York is a shadow of its former manufacturing self, as businesses will not start where there are no customers or employees. Since 1980, New York has lost 10 U.S. Congressional districts, and it will likely lose more following the 2010 Census.
To halt this decline, the best path for New York going forward is to meaningfully reduce spending and reform the burdensome tax code. These actions would allow residents to invest in the state's economy and small businesses to create more jobs."
For the sake of all New York's residents (and our more than 18,000 members in the state) let's hope the Legislature will take John's words to heart.