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Tax Hikes Are Seen In Budget

March 31, 2008

Governor Paterson and lawmakers are racing to complete a budget that they say will add hundreds of millions of dollars in health care and public school aid above what the Spitzer administration had proposed in January, and will raise taxes on cigarettes and online shopping.

Mr. Paterson, a former lieutenant governor who jumped into the complex negotiations just two weeks ago when he replaced Eliot Spitzer as governor, and legislative leaders emerged from closed-door talks yesterday evening with a budget in sight, but with hopes fading that they would complete the budget before the constitutional deadline: the end of today. Lawmakers said they would begin today to crank out the 5,000 pages of budget bills and start voting on them. The process could extend to as late as Wednesday.

“It’s a mechanical problem, you’re always racing against the clock in budget negotiations, but this time we’re racing together against the clock,” Mr. Paterson said, according to the Associated Press.

The budget appears to stand at $124 billion, about $200 million less than what Mr. Spitzer proposed in January. The tentative deal calls for raising spending $500 million beyond what Mr. Paterson advised this month, a total funds increase of 4.8% over last year’s spending levels.

Source: NY Sun

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under Taxes 

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