New York's Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have agreed upon an income tax increase for wealthy New Yorkers. It must be quite an interesting form of government they have over there in New York State.
'The budget agreement was reached yesterday after weeks of closed-door sessions between Paterson, Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. All three are Democrats from Manhattan.
No Republican Negotiators
It was the first budget since 1965 in which the Republican leader of the Senate wasn’t among the three top negotiators. Democrats won a 32-30 majority in the chamber in last November’s election.
The higher tax income rates are proposed to end after three years. Joint-filers with adjusted income above $300,000 would pay a top 7.85 percent, and those earning above $500,000 would pay 8.97 percent, the same top rate as neighboring New Jersey, the Division of Budget said. The possibility that a higher tax rate would lead wealthy New Yorkers to leave the state was debated in the months leading to the budget agreement.
New York’s existing top tax rate is 6.85 percent for joint filers with adjusted incomes above $40,000.'
This is what is known as progressive government. Three guys go into a back room and decide who gets taxed and who gets bailed out. But it's OK because they're really great guys. After all they're Democrats.
I suppose we can hope that our new post-partisan era turns out to be a short one. Signs are, it might be. Especially if other New Yorkers follow the lead of Rush Limbaugh:
'I'm leaving. I am seriously... See, ladies and gentlemen, I would love to tell this story. I don't think I should. I don't think I should get personal, but I would love to tell my tax audit story of New York State and New York City since 1997. It happens every year, but that's not the point. I have to prove 14 different ways where I am every day of the year. I have to prove 14 different ways, 'cause I pay New York state and city tax on a per diem.
When I am there working I pay whatever, you know, my rate is based on income for that day in New York. And I try to go as little as possible. If it weren't for hurricanes down here, I would never go up there. New York is the escape valve in case hurricanes are showing up in our area, because of the loss of electricity. So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to look for an alternative studio somewhere outside New York, perhaps Texas -- another no-income-tax state -- and I'm going to get the hell over there, when a hurricane starts coming our way, 'cause I told Mayor Bloomberg: I'll be the first to lead the way. You know, this is just... I'll sell my apartment. I'll sell my condominium. I'm going to get out of there totally, 'cause this is just absurd, and it's ridiculous -- and it isn't going to work. It's punishing the achievers for the mistakes and the lack of discipline on the part of a bunch of corrupt politicians that have run that city and state into the ground for I don't know how many years -- and I, for one, am not going to take the blame for it.'
There are plenty of ways to vote and that's one of them.
Comments