Politics on the Hudson

Governor Paterson’s press secretary Errol Cockfield put out a statement to try to better explain the governor’s proposal to raise taxes and fees.

“Our unprecedented and still rapidly-growing deficit required us to look at cost reductions and revenue enhancers from across a broad spectrum. Three areas were targeted: reductions in spending, increases in revenues, and one time actions,” he said.

“A reliance on only one of those strategies is unreasonable and unbalanced, and would set up the state for a deeper fiscal crisis. If we do not take this action now, the State will be unable to provide core services.

“In determining which fees and assessments should be increased, we looked for areas where:
—the cost of providing the service had increased without the fee (which is supposed to mitigate the expense of the cost) keeping pace;
—fees were considered low and had not been raised in many years;
—such assessments helped to “share the pain” more equitably; and,
—such actions would provide increased revenue, quickly, and without unduly burdening our citizens, especially the most vulnerable.

“The Governor feels these fees are fair, reasonable and necessary to balance this budget.”