Now I'm not sure if any of you have heard this or not, but we are in the middle of a recession. We also have a Governor who has only heard about this recession...
Any who, as you all know Wall Street is where a big chunk of the State's revenues come from, well more like came from. So the Empire State is now faced with a -15 Billion budget deficit. While this would be fine for a national government to handle during an economic downturn such as this, it is bad news for a state government that offers many more services to its residents.
In order to alleviate this budget crunch Governor Patterson is proposing a whole slew of regressive tax cuts that every one of us is going to feel. For those not in the now, a regressive tax cut is the opposite of a progressive tax cut. The progressive tax cut entails that people with higher incomes are required to pay a larger share of their take home in taxes. For those of you who think that this sounds un-American, Teddy Roosevelt supported it, and he's Teddy Fucking Roosevelt. Dude's face is on the side of a mountain, right?
Back to the point. So a regressive tax is one which disproportionately affects people who can afford it the least. I mean we are talking taxes on staple goods, things that everybody uses, these are not taxes on luxury yachts or diamonds. In case any of you were still dispassionate about billions of dollars in taxes on basic consumer items let me present you with an excerpt from the Times
"The tax proposals are likely to touch almost every New Yorker in some way. The most notable new tax is an 18 percent levy on sugary soft drinks. But many other existing taxes would increase. The tax on car rentals would rise to 6 percent from 5 percent. Taxes on beer and wine would more than double. Taxes on gasoline, cable and satellite TV service, cigars and flavored malt beverages would also go up. And the cost of owning and operating a car would rise significantly, with 16 fee increases. The governor also proposed allowing wine sales in grocery stores and drug stores, which is expected to raise $105 million in the next fiscal year, mostly through licensing fees." NY Times
Although I must admit the idea of wine sales in a grocery store in pretty intriguing I don't want to be paying any more than I have to for my iTunes downloads. But in all seriousness. There is no reason to be paying more to get less, especially when they plan on repealing tax rebates for rentiers, hiking tuition, taxing food, raising the MTA to $2.50 a ride.
So really, this is a big deal for you and me. We're all trying to get out on our own, careers and apartments and the like and these taxes are just going to make it even harder. Take the skin off my back while the fat cats sit fat? Fuck that.
I honestly don't know if this online petition will do anything at all, who knows. But, it takes less than a minute and i've exposed it to 30 people just posting it here and I am forwarding it to most of my personal and business contacts because..well, why not?
Here is the link for those of you willing to take the time. Really though, send it to whoever you can, make your voices heard, every vote counts, I didn't exhale, etc. etc.
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/t/3865/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2483
Ron Paul Rev'08
PrfX
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