Comments for Paterson's Proposed Budget Plan for 2009: Will real reform prevail at http://www.urbanelephants.com , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.urbanelephants.com Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:52:42 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1804 http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/01/07/2009-01-07_the_ny_legislature_is_an_embarrassment_a.html Good piece on Brennen Center reform proposals and past actions on previous reccomendations. "The good news is that the Senate Democrats, who fully embraced every call for legislative rules reform while in the minority, may take control of the Senate in the coming days. Last year, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith introduced a one-house resolution that included many of the rules reforms recommended by the Brennan Center. The measure failed along a party-line vote. Smith, the likely incoming leader of the majority, has expressed a commitment to rules reform. He has repeated that commitment, publicly, on several occasions. We hope that ifthe Senate leads on rules changes, the Assembly will follow." It will be interesting to see if Malcolm Smith actually follows through with reform measures now that he's majority leader. I would put my money against such an outcome and if the Dem's can find a way to do this, the GOP will be left out in the cold on an issue that was in their control for the last few years... - Jay Golub Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:07:51 +0100 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1802 http://www.nypost.com/seven/01072009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/taxing_ny_to_death_148970.htm?page=0 great piece by Stephen Kagann on the effect of tax increases historically on NYC's budget and economy. "The special interests are now running TV ads claiming it is "fair" to tax those earning over $250,000 and give the money to them. Yet the so-called "rich" are employers and investors. The public may buy the pitch that we're not taxing you, just your boss - but only because few realize that "tax the rich" means perhaps a 15 percent chance of losing your job." NY State can't afford to follow the path of the past... - Jay Golub Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:56:14 +0100 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1546 That is why, Spunky, some usage taxes may be one of the answers to NY's fiscal woes. Take for example the MTA. Only a fraction of the overall costs of public transportation in NYC comes from the farebox - a much lower level than most cities here and around the world. If people paid more to get onto a subway or bus, they may be more demanding of the service and they may hold the MTA more accountable for the quality of service. More specifically, if the 2nd Avenue line was paid for directly by the commuter, they may deem it unnecessary because it's too expensive. But if mortgage transfer taxes and .375% sales tax surcharges keep paying for a large chunk of the system's expenditures, than people don't see the money coming out of their hands, essentially making them incorrectly feel like "they" are not paying for it. This is true for the roads, bridges, etc... Now i'm not proposing a toll on the bridges under the present circumstances and i'm not proposing increasing the fares for the MTA. I would support a transfer of liability from indiscrete tax collections to the farebox only if the system could demonstrate that they not collecting more than they were before. With the system in disarray, I doubt it's a good time to try to accomplish this... - Jay Golub Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:14:38 +0100 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1544 NY's budget is a mess because we overspend. I agree that the first and only cure for our problems is reduce spending over the course of time, but make it mandated. On the other side, most people don't even know how or why the sales tax exists or other taxes. They can't even calculate it on a transaction. They don't know what items do not apply to it. it's all a distraction. - spunky Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:31:25 +0100 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1485 "Alas, the real problem is that these kinds of issues don't register with voters who pull the lever in the voting booth for familiar names and faces and out of short term self-interest, without any real regard for structural and operational soundess of the government they are electing representatives to run." Stu, you need to have some hope - to coin a phrase. The GOP can offer the message you alluded to and it can be successful in doing so. Republicans just need to commit to that type of message - both in good and bad times. Resisting massive spending increases when the economy is flourishing and government budgets are overflowing with funds is the key to New York's economic future. New York is blessed with a unique funding stream. The fact that we can't live within our means is a joke and politicians like Bloomberg who claim to be financial experts should be able to plan for the cyclical nature of our tax collections. Mayor Mike failed miserably in this regard and deserves to be thrown out of office for it. But the GOP shouldn't take the present administration as an example of what "works" for NYC and should get back to it's roots, supporting a smaller more efficient government that manages its business at the most local level possible. Sadly, at the time when the city, state and Country needs the GOP's central principles, they are no where to be found. Unfortunately, these principles have been sold off by our President, our last majority leader in the House, our last governor and our present and past State Senate leadership and, last but not least, our city's Mayor. For any progess to be made in getting our budget woes under control, a true and effective opposition party needs to exist. The GOP needs to step back into that role and can only do so by supporting innovative and fiscally conservative programs... - Jay Golub Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:24:04 +0100 http://www.urbanelephants.com/index.php/herd/356-government-budgets-following-when-they-should-be-leading.html#comment-1477 All good proposals Jay, and long overdue for this State. I would add the need for a zero based budgeting process (where every program and state agency needs to justify every budget dollar requested annually) as well as a sunset provision for discretionary programs with the possibility of renewal only if the case can be made. There also needs to be more transparent budgeting so that dollars can be traceable to their end users and not disappear into a dark bureaucratic abyss. More, we need to get borrowing authority returned to the legislature and voters by ending the reliance on various semi-independent bond-issuing "authorities" at the state and county level which have the ability to issue debt without approval of voters in referendum but which the state remains on the hook for anyway (in much the same way as the feds were on the hook for Fannie and Freddie debt despite their alleged non-governmental status). The reliance on off-the books borrowing is a ticking time bomb in New York, just as Fannie and Freddie were for the nation and it is NOT too soon to start addressing that. This reliance allows our state lawmakers to spend without accountability because of the unrestricted borrowing of these presumptively non-governmental entities, thereby raising our obligations and debt service costs. State taxpayers face a huge bubble that everyone seems to have forgotten about. New York has to cease its big spending, high taxing ways because eventually you just can't tax enough to buy your way out of real economic problems as the recent nationwide fiscal and economic crisis is telling us. Alas, the real problem is that these kinds of issues don't register with voters who pull the lever in the voting booth for familiar names and faces and out of short term self-interest, without any real regard for structural and operational soundess of the government they are electing representatives to run. SWM - swmirsky Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:16:47 +0100