Wrong Choices in the Governor’s Budget

It’s budget time in Albany once again. And that means another fight to head off Governor Pataki’s annual attempt at brutal cuts in programs that aid poor and working class families. A budget reflects the priorities of those in government. When we look at this budget, the choices – on health care, on education, on taxes - seem to be made at the expense of African American and Latino communities and the working poor generally.

As usual, Medicaid is a big target: Medicaid spending would decline by $1.89 billion through a combination of cuts and assessments. The governor is also proposing to eliminate vision, dental, and mental health services under Family Health Plus, and to institute a $250 copay for hospital visits. Facilitated enrollment in Family Health Plus would also be eliminated despite the fact that the state has a higher percentage of uninsured adults than any of its neighboring states.

Shortsighted Decisions

These decisions are shortsighted. They would lower the amount spent on Medicaid and Family Health Plus, but that would only increase the tax dollars spent on health care as a whole as more uninsured patients flood hospital emergency rooms. Also, large numbers of people without health care coverage are a public health hazard. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the governor that more New Yorkers enrolled in public health programs is an unqualified good for the state.

Because of a lawsuit brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the school system is supposed to receive billions in additional state funding. This budget allocates to the city a fraction of the amount necessary to provide for a proper education. It is a miserly beginning to correcting a long-term wrong perpetrated against the school children of New York City.

Once again, the budget goes after families on public assistance. These benefits are withheld from the head of the household for noncompliance with work requirements. The governor wants to cut off public assistance for the entire family if one member does not comply with work requirements. Sanctioning a family for one person’s actions only serves to punish children, who are blameless. Research shows that states with full family sanctions are not any more successful in moving families from welfare to work than states that do not sanction entire families.

The governor proposes to eliminate the $110 clothing tax exemption while letting the surcharge expire on personal income taxes for households earning over $150,000 a year. The city collected almost $600 million a year in taxes from the surcharge.

Each of these proposals would make life harder for New York’s poor, who are – overwhelmingly – black and Latino. It is the poor who are most in need of government services. The effect would be to balance the state budget on their backs. It need not be so.

New York is a state with great wealth and great poverty: it has the widest income gap between rich and poor of any state. This gap is magnified by the state’s regressive tax system, where corporations pay a shrinking amount in taxes and wealthy households pay a much smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than do lower income households.

Whose Class Warfare?

Right-wingers like to cry “class warfare” when we advocate for social programs or a more progressive system of taxation. But they’re the ones engaging in class warfare – against the poor and the vulnerable.

The Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that studies the state’s budget and tax systems, advanced several proposals for balancing the state budget. Here are two.

Eliminate corporate tax avoidance schemes. Between 1977 and 2000, corporate income taxes declined from about a 10 percent share of state tax revenues to less than a 4 percent share. If the corporate sector paid anything like its fair share in taxes, many cuts in aid and services could be avoided.
The city’s congressional delegation should be working to extend the temporary federal revenue sharing program and the temporary increase in the federal Medicaid match rates. These programs provided $2.1 billion for the state in the last two years.

During the budget process, our representatives in Albany should remind the governor that his priorities ought to be those who need help, not more corporate subsidies or tax cuts for the wealthy.

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Wrong Choices in the Governor’s Budget It’s budget time in Albany once again. And that means another fight to head off Governor Pataki’s annual attempt at brutal cuts in programs that aid poor and working class families. A budget reflects the priorities of those in government. When we look at this budget, the choices – on health care, on education, on taxes - seem to be made at the expense of African American and Latino communities and the working poor generally. As usual, Medicaid is a big target: Medicaid spending would decline by $1.89 billion through a combination of cuts and assessments. The governor is also proposing to eliminate vision, dental, and mental health services under Family Health Plus, and to institute a $250 copay for hospital visits. Facilitated enrollment in Family Health Plus would also be eliminated despite the fact that the state has a higher percentage of uninsured adults than any of its neighboring states. Shortsighted Decisions These decisions are shortsighted. They would lower the amount spent on Medicaid and Family Health Plus, but that would only increase the tax dollars spent on health care as a whole as more uninsured patients flood hospital emergency rooms. Also, large numbers of people without health care coverage are a public health hazard. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the governor that more New Yorkers enrolled in public health programs is an unqualified good for the state. Because of a lawsuit brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the school system is supposed to receive billions in additional state funding. This budget allocates to the city a fraction of the amount necessary to provide for a proper education. It is a miserly beginning to correcting a long-term wrong perpetrated against the school children of New York City. Making life harder for New York’s poor Once again, the budget goes after families on public assistance. These benefits are withheld from the head of the household for noncompliance with work requirements. The governor wants to cut off public assistance for the entire family if one member does not comply with work requirements. Sanctioning a family for one person’s actions only serves to punish children, who are blameless. Research shows that states with full family sanctions are not any more successful in moving families from welfare to work than states that do not sanction entire families. The governor proposes to eliminate the $110 clothing tax exemption while letting the surcharge expire on personal income taxes for households earning over $150,000 a year. The city collected almost $600 million a year in taxes from the surcharge. Each of these proposals would make life harder for New York’s poor, who are – overwhelmingly – black and Latino. It is the poor who are most in need of government services. The effect would be to balance the state budget on their backs. It need not be so. New York is a state with great wealth and great poverty: it has the widest income gap between rich and poor of any state. This gap is magnified by the state’s regressive tax system, where corporations pay a shrinking amount in taxes and wealthy households pay a much smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than do lower income households. Whose Class Warfare? Right-wingers like to cry “class warfare” when we advocate for social programs or a more progressive system of taxation. But they’re the ones engaging in class warfare – against the poor and the vulnerable. The Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that studies the state’s budget and tax systems, advanced several proposals for balancing the state budget. Here are two. Eliminate corporate tax avoidance schemes. Between 1977 and 2000, corporate income taxes declined from about a 10 percent share of state tax revenues to less than a 4 percent share. If the corporate sector paid anything like its fair share in taxes, many cuts in aid and services could be avoided. The city’s congressional delegation should be working to extend the temporary federal revenue sharing program and the temporary increase in the federal Medicaid match rates. These programs provided $2.1 billion for the state in the last two years. During the budget process, our representatives in Albany should remind the governor that his priorities ought to be those who need help, not more corporate subsidies or tax cuts for the wealthy. From the New York Amsterdam News February 10 - 16, 2005

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Shortsighted Decisions

Whose Class Warfare?

From the New York Amsterdam News February 10 - 16, 2005

From the New York Amsterdam News
February 10 - 16, 2005