And so the deluge begins: As soon as Gov. Cuomo let on that he foresees modest budget surpluses in the state’s future, legislators began drafting big spending plans.
Even though Cuomo had made clear that the surpluses will materialize if and only if state government sticks to his tight-fisted policy of holding spending growth at 2% or below.
Even though Cuomo has further made clear, rightly, that he’s dedicating the extra cash to easing New York’s tax burden, with $2 billion in relief to be phased in over three years.
First to reach the floodgates with a crowbar was the Senate’s four-member Independent Democratic Conference, headed by Jeff Klein of the Bronx. The group tries to play a pivotal role by shifting alliances in a body narrowly divided between regular Democrats and Republicans.
Seizing on Bill de Blasio’s “progressive” victory, the conference says that now is the time for $1.75 billion worth of outlays to supposedly make New York more affordable to the working and middle classes.
The big-ticket items on the so-called Affordable NY agenda include $750 million for a revived Mitchell-Lama program to build middle-class housing, $150 million a year to finance six weeks of paid family leave for workers, more funding for day care, tax credits for college, $300 checks to pay senior citizens’ utility bills and expanded prescription coverage for the elderly.
While all are attractive and some are worthy, the conference cannot deliver the goods without surging through Cuomo’s spending cap. Klein & Co. dispute this truth, but they are possessed by magical thinking. Here’s why:
Let’s say Cuomo proposes to spend $100 billion and refund $2 billion of the taxpayer’s money. He will wind up spending $100 billion on state programs. Now, let’s say Cuomo proposes $100 billion in spending and the conference adds $1.75 billion for new programs; the state would spend $101.75 billion. The arithmetic is simple. Like so much of Albany, IDC members go wrong in viewing the surplus as belonging to them, not taxpayers, so issuing refunds is the same as spending.
In short, Klein aims to go on a classic election-year spree that would blow up Cuomo’s fiscal discipline, deny refunds to taxpayers and expand a government that is a major driver of the state’s high cost of living. The alternate approach of shifting funds earmarked for less important purposes hardly crosses the mind.
If the IDC really wants to address the affordability crisis, how about actually doing something to make things cost less?
It could seek to repeal taxes on utility bills that the state uses to finance pet projects. Or eliminate the trial-lawyer-friendly statutes that jack up liability insurance costs for doctors and builders.
Or control the skyrocketing tab for excessive pension and health benefits for government workers, which cost the city billions.
Doing any of the above would require taking on an entrenched special interest. Spending other people’s money is so much easier.
