New York 2020: Bound For Broke?
A legislative column by Assemblyman David DiPietro (R,C,I-East Aurora)
So here we are everyone, the end of the 2019 calendar year and were getting ready for the holidays. Setting up decorations, meeting with loved ones and buying presents, and boy have we got one monster of a present from Gov. Cuomo and the Majority politicians, a $6.6 billion budget deficit.
Yup, you read that right, billion. It has been reported for a while now that our budget process is pants-on-head backwards. But you already know what the usual answer is from Speaker Carl Heastie himself, For us in the Assembly, we always believe in raising revenue. That means raising taxes on you and your family! Ill tell you right now he may be the Speaker, but that answer doesnt speak for me.
This isnt even a one-time thing my friends, this is going to get worse every year down the road. Spending is out of control and its not going to fix the pothole on your road. Its not even going to your childrens schools to provide them a better education, its being swallowed by a bloated Medicaid budget, Gov. Cuomos pet projects, like the so called Mario M. Cuomo bridge, and New York City subway budget fights.
Western New York is left in the dust and told to pick up the bill. Its why movements like Split the State are picking up steam all across Upstate and not just here at home. We need to band together and tell these downstaters that you cant just take our tax dollars and tell us to sit down and be quiet. If we had our way, the Safe Act would be repealed, we wouldnt be floating bribes to Hollywood billionaires and youd be free to practice your way of life as you see fit.
But no, theyre going to try to tax us all the more come next budget cycle to one, cover this $6.6 BILLION dollar hole from last year to try to stop it from growing, and two, fill the coffers for either single-payer healthcare, Safe Act 2.0 or giving refugees apartments, who knows? The bottom line is, the Majority politicians had control of both houses of the Legislature this year and spending is out of control, and in 2020 theyre going for broke while were left with the bill.