Statement by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on Governor Paterson's proposed savings plan
Governor Paterson understands that the sooner we get a handle on next year’s Budget the better off we’ll be, and we certainly agree. I commend the Governor for recognizing the challenges facing New York and for focusing the Legislature and others on this important issue.
Just last week, the Senate Majority partnered with the Governor to pass a property tax cap that would begin to provide real relief for overburdened taxpayers. There is no more critical issue facing the Legislature than the property tax crisis facing Upstate and suburban homeowners, and we need to focus on that as well. I applaud the Governor for taking a series of administrative actions in recent months that reduce spending in the 2008-09 Budget. His actions were necessary to keep this year’s Budget in balance and to protect taxpayers. We will continue to work with the Governor to achieve additional savings and promote efficiencies that further bring down costs. While we are working cooperatively to get a head start on the 2009-10 State Budget, it’s important that the Governor and Legislature not take any actions that would force local governments to raise their local taxes to make up for a shortfall from Albany. We are concerned that reducing local government assistance funding may have such an effect. As for the Governor’s proposed Medicaid cuts, I believe we must extract every dollar from the massive fraud that exists. As the author of the legislation that created the State’s Medicaid Inspector General, I know that we aren’t doing enough to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. We need to focus more of our energy on preventing those who are ineligible for Medicaid from accessing benefits at taxpayer expense, as it was recently reported that hundreds of thousands of out of state residents may be bilking our Medicaid system. Last week, the Senate passed a bill to enforce the collection of sales taxes on tobacco products sold to non-Indians at Indian-owned businesses. We urge the Governor to sign this bill and enforce the laws currently on the books to create tax parity and provide additional State revenue of approximately $400 million. We also urge the Governor to endorse our constitutional spending cap and call on the Assembly to pass the measure. A spending cap would limit annual increases in State spending to no more than 4 percent and help reduce next year’s projected deficit. If this amendment would have already been on the books, taxpayers would have saved $2.8 billion this year alone. In the days and weeks ahead, we look forward to working with the Governor, the Assembly and others to overcome the State’s ongoing fiscal challenges, while protecting local governments from having to raise local taxes on families who need and deserve real property tax relief. Most Popular |
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
On DemandMost Popular
What's On |
