Last November, Governor Cuomo announced that he would make a strong push in 2019 to provide New York State drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants.
My response at the time was this: "Here we go in the new New York State. Governor Cuomo and the new State Legislature are getting ready to blow through stop signs protecting the rights and safety of hard-working, law-abiding, lifelong, responsible residents. Buckle up, look both ways, and hold on to your wallet, this state’s about to get taxed and turned upside down at breakneck speed."
Less than one month into the 2019 legislative session, with the governor fully encouraging a state Legislature under one-party (his party) Democratic control, I’m afraid “here we go” was a serious understatement on my part.
Not long ago, Governor Cuomo proclaimed that he feels “liberated” without a Republican Majority in the state Senate around to block his vision for New York’s future.
Consider what this vision has produced over just the past few weeks in Albany, including:
- n The “Reproductive Health Act” to significantly expand abortion in New York State;
n The “DREAM Act” to provide taxpayer-funded college tuition assistance to illegal immigrant families;
n Significant reform to the state’s electoral process, including early voting, an unfunded mandate that promises to increase costs for local taxpayers and enhance the risk of voter fraud;
n A proposed 2019-2020 New York State budget that eliminates critical Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) funding for upstate municipalities, puts at risk critical agricultural funding, offers no serious mandate relief, raises spending on Medicaid by $1 billion, seeks higher taxes and fees, and includes many other troubling (and expensive) proposals.
On the way? Using taxpayers dollars to finance political campaigns, commonly known as public campaign financing. Legalizing recreational marijuana and creating a big new state bureaucracy to oversee the legalization. An ongoing attack on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding, responsible gun owners. A state-level, universal health care system that many believe will simply break the bank.
At a recent legislative hearing examining the governor’s proposed budget, I raised the specter of state borrowing and debt, and particularly the burden being left to future generations of decision makers and, especially, taxpayers. New York already has America’s highest state and local government debt per capita.
Now Governor Cuomo and his Democratic partners in the Legislature are eyeing the so-called “Green New Deal” that, among other things, seeks to make New York’s electricity 100% carbon neutral over the next two decades. They call it a new deal, however I’m not sure it’s a fair deal for future taxpayers or energy consumers for whom the cost of energy will rise. It’s a massive undertaking. It calls for a huge investment in new infrastructure. To start, the governor wants a $10 billion “Green Future Fund.” It arrives on top of what has been an ongoing, enormous expansion of infrastructure building statewide, spending the governor has proposed to raise to $150 billion this year.
Most of it’s being accomplished through state borrowing, significantly adding to future state debt and, most egregiously, being heaped onto the backs of future taxpayers who will have to deal with it long after Governor Cuomo and most current legislative leaders have left office.
I said it recently, I’ll say it again, and it needs to go on being said: The new, Democratic direction for New York State appears headed toward producing billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending requiring billions upon billions of dollars in new taxes, fees, and, especially, borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers.
So, yes, buckle up. Look both ways. Hold on to your wallet.
The short-term pursuit of a hard-left, liberal political agenda appears to be the priority over a long-term, sustainable future for upstate, middle-class communities, families, workers, and taxpayers.
