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New York Soon to Become Miserable, Depopulated Place, Thanks to David Paterson

Jimmie | December 18, 2008 | Comments (1)

I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to what Governor David Paterson is trying to do to the citizens of New York, but the links that my kindly e-mailers Andrew and James sent me have me wondering why there isn’t a pitchfork and torch brigade marching on Albany right now.

Governor Paterson is facing a budget that’s over $15 billion over budget. Now, a reasonably intelligent person when faced with a deficit who didn’t have an unlimited line of credit would start cutting their expenses. This isn’t exactly rocket science, unless you happen to be Paterson, in which case it’s as alien as a supercollider would be to Australopithecus.

Paterson’s new budget is well over $1 billion bigger than it was this year. Not only that, but Paterson’s Folly contains a raft of new taxes – a combination of Nanny State piffle and business cripplers – that ought to have folks fleeing the state like Detroit Lions fans flee the stadium in the third quarter. Here’s a partial list:

* An “iTunes tax” of 4 percent on videos, music or pictures downloaded from the Internet.

* A 4 percent tax on taxi, limo and bus rides. That means a $10 cab ride would cost 40 cents more.

* A 4 percent entertainment tax on tickets to movies, concerts and sporting events. That would add nearly 50 cents to a $12 movie ticket or $1.80 to the cheapest $44.50 seat at a Knicks game.

* The tax on beer increases 24 cents per gallon, or more than double the current rate, which means about 30 cents a case.

* An 18 percent tax on nondiet soft drinks, which aims to reduce child obesity. A $1.50 can of Pepsi would then cost at least 25 cents more.

* A 4 percent tax on cable TV and satellite services, raising a $100 bill by $4.

* Hiking the cost of “personal” services – including haircuts, manicures, pedicures, massages and gym memberships – by 4 percent.

* A 4 percent sales tax on clothing and shoes under $500, except for two weeks out of the year.

* Elimination of the law that caps the state sales tax on gasoline at 8 cents per gallon.

Go ahead and pick any entertainment you might seek an an average evening. That night will be more expensive and there’s almost nothing you can do that won’t cost you more. Joye Brown gives you a little taste of just how intrusive Paterson’s scheme is. But noodle it through yourself, just using the taxes I listed.

Let’s say you worked in the city. You take a cab home where you want to kick back with a good book, the new album you downloaded off of iTunes, and a cold bottle of Pepsi but you need a haircut, so you stop there first before you head home. Four of those things will cost you more. Maybe you want to catch an Islanders game and buy a beer while you’re there. Both of those will cost more and so will the cab there and home.

Now, some of this is just fine with Nanny State fascists like Nic Kristof, who believe they have the right to decide what you eat and drink and will happily use the power of government to work their will on you. But Paterson’s taxes get you coming or going. Sure, he’s going to tax regular soft drinks, which will please the totalitarians. But he’s also going to jack up the cost of gym memberships, which isn’t exactly going to bring in droves to Thursday Night Jazzercize. So on one hand, the busybodies don’t want you getting fat on sugary drinks but they don’t want you working it out in the gym either. Maybe they want you jogging around the crime-ridden streets of New York City. Or maybe they’re well-off like Kristof and don’t particularly care what they do to you so long as they still have money to spend and can still push their religion of Government Über Alles down your throat.

Right now, it looks like the only ones who are going to benefit from the Governor’s mad enterprise are New York’s neighbors, which will see plenty of new residents as former New Yorkers escape the financial ruin that the Democrats are making out of the Empire State.