Maureen Lane

Pataki’s Poor Policy Proposals

NY's Governor George Pataki released his new budget. Let's talk tax breaks for "Big Earners". The NY Times quotes John Caper, the governor's budget director, "You can't afford to have the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers move to Arizona because our tax base is so narrowly focused on a razor slice of our people who pay so much of our taxes."

In the same piece, progressive State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who actually represents many of the state's wealthiest citizens offers a different take on why this is.

the increasing tax burden on the rich is largely a sign of how the gap between classes is increasing and a reflection of federal tax policy shifting the burden away from the well-off. "The rich are dramatically richer and the poor are that much poorer", she said.

New York's taxes are trying to compensate for unjust tax policies happening on the federal level.

If your goal is broadening the tax base - like many things, there's a right way and a wrong way to do so. I think the way to increase the base is to increase the number of people living in New York State who are prospering economically. The state benefits when families climb the economic ladder. Therefore, we need political leadership that has a strategy for expanding the number of families moving out of poverty rather than into it.

Poverty figures have jumped in New York and Pataki's budget is bent on ratcheting it up a few more percentage points. For example, most New Yorkers believe access to education is important for financial success. Income increases in leaps and bounds with each step up the education ladder.

Neverthless, Pataki is proposing an education cut aimed at students. The governor wants to substantially increase the course load for poor and low-income studentsto qualify for the State's Tuition Assistance Program. Doing this would deny the promise made by the state to have higher education affordable for students.

Every year since the governor has been in office, he has proposed some form of cut to Tuition Assistance. Adding an arbitrary burden to already stretched students does not make sense. At WRI, we find that students struggle with added courses on top of the already high level of responsibility and stress they have. That additional struggle can negatively and unnecessarily affect a student's future. When NYS promotes access to education for its entire people, family incomes will rise, business will benefit and the Vanderbilts will not have to move to Arizona.

WRI and CUNY students know the life changing effects of a college degree. We have a plan that will expand people's ability to get one. It's time that our elected officials caught up with students plans.

Maureen Lane: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:35 AM, Jan 23, 2006 in New York
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