The Budget Hypocrisy of Tom Libous
By Mike Connery on 04/07/2010 @ 02:26 PM
When it comes to the budget, the record of Senate Republicans is littered with tax hikes and out of control spending. Over the course of twenty years the Party of Joe Bruno delivered an on-time budget only twice – not to mention that they practically invented the accounting gimmicks that helped set our state on the path to financial ruin.
That's why it was surprising to see Republican Senator Tom Libous attacking Democrats over the weekend for delays in what is widely acknowledged as the most difficult and complex budget process in decades. After twenty-two years in the State Senate, there is little in Tom Libous' record – or that of the GOP as a whole -that is in any way reflective of a concern for fiscal responsibility.
In 1988, when Tom Libous was first elected to serve the people New York, our state’s budget was $39 Billion. Under his less-than-watchful eyes, spending ballooned by 197% over the next two decades. By 2008, when New Yorkers had finally had enough and threw out Joe Bruno and some his other cronies, the budget had nearly tripled to a whopping $116 billion.
Out of control spending and late budgets represent only one side of the ledger. In addition to letting spending go virtually unchecked, Tom Libous and the Senate Republicans literally balanced the state's checkbook on the backs of everyday New Yorkers, creating the unbearable tax burden that now threatens to bankrupt so many in this state.
Between 1990 and 2008, Tom Libous voted for a whopping 504 new state taxes and fees, reaching into the the pocket books of hard-working New Yorkers and robbing them of $29.2 billion. We in this state pay almost twice the national average in property taxes and face the highest state and local tax burden in the nation thanks in no small part to Tom Libous and the rest of his Republican buddies.
That's no record to be proud of and it sheds an interesting light on Libous' newfound fiscal hawkishness. It would be one thing if Libous and the rest of the Bruno Republicans in the Senate spent even a fraction of the time they exhaust attacking Democrats on actually working to find real bi-partisan solutions to the economic crisis we face. Instead, it has become clear that they have chosen political rhetoric over substantive results.
Since the beginning of the budget process, Libous and Senate Republicans have demonstrated a tremendous talent for shouting "No!" but have shown very little concern for solving the challenges facing New York today. They still have not even submitted a budget proposal of their own and recently voted unanimously to reject a tough but fair budget resolution proposed by the Democratic Majority.
The Democratic budget is not perfect – our financial situation calls for very tough choices – but it is a significant step towards putting New York back on the fiscally responsible track. It provides real property tax relief for seniors and homeowners, rejects over $1 billion in new taxes, and holds spending under the rate of inflation for only the third time in thirty years.
New Yorkers have already put up with forty-four years of Republican deals, deficits and dysfunction in Albany. Its time for Tom Libous to stop slinging mud and help clean up the mess he created.
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