Gov. Paterson could provoke another government-shutdown showdown next week by including a $1-a-pack tax hike on cigarettes into his next round of emergency spending legislation, an administration source told The NY Post.
The source said the governor would package the $200 million cigarette-tax proposal with a $100 million plan to go after uncollected taxes on Indian reservations upstate and on Long Island in a bid to sweeten the deal for GOP senators who oppose outright tax increases.
The development came as Paterson also quietly advanced a new tax plan to address the state’s medical-malpractice crisis.
Paterson wants to tax every auto-, homeowner- and commercial-insurance policy to fill a $465 million gap in a fund that insures high-risk doctors.
The state averted a government shutdown Monday only after the Legislature narrowly approved emergency spending, along with massive cuts.
(Source: NY Post)
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3 Responses
I have an idea that Albany hasn’t thought of yet. STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY!! These baboons in Albany are thinking of ways to expand the budget. Why don’t they NOT spend the money that they already have in the accounts, and not raise everything!
I’m waiting for some brave (suicidal?) township to pass a junk-food (however it gets defined) tax.
Aside from the predictable resulting riots, it should reverse the fortune of even the poorest district in record time!
people are already buying cigarettes in other states. now even MORE people will do so, thats all. tax hikes mean that people will either spend or put their money some place else.