THE PRICE OF AN ELECTION LOST

The new Democratic Regime in Albany has now passed their budget, the first in generations delivered without a Republican Senate to pump the brakes on taxes and spending.

New York will spend $175 Billion. An increase of 4% over last year, double the inflation rate. The State of Florida, with nearly two million more residents than New York, has a budget of less than $90 Billion, and no income tax. If living standards are so dire in states that spend less, why are so many New Yorkers fleeing to Florida?

New York spends more on Medicaid than California and Texas combined, which together have three times our population.

This new budget will give New Yorkers some of the highest bridge and tunnel tolls in the nation. A new tax for online shoppers. A new tax on paper bags at the grocery stores. New congestion pricing for drivers in New York City.

In lieu of a new ‘millionaires tax’ this year, we now have a new ‘mansion tax,’ on real estate. CNBC now reports that real estate values are plummeting.

Worth noting is what Democratic leaders never discussed during the budget negotiations: skyrocketing construction costs created by union featherbedding regulations, a property tax burden that is one of the highest in America, plummeting real estate values, and a budget shortfall caused by taxpayers fleeing New York. One-party rule voted for a progressive tax-and-spend budget, instead of tackling real issues that would ease the burden on our middle class.

In the dead of night on April 1, out of public view and without a hearing, a change was made in the budget. Governor Cuomo engineered himself a $50,000 pay raise over the next two years, which will make him the highest paid Governor in the Nation. Well done Governor.

New Yorkers are sorely missing the Republican Senate we once had that slowed spending and damned the flow of progressive regulation.