Monday, December 15, 2008

Taking a page from the Bloomberg playbook

After opposing higher taxes for months as counterproductive, Gov. David Paterson will seek to increase several taxes from gasoline to clothing, as well as make changes in the income tax that will make New Yorkers pay more fix state government's fiscal crisis.

The Democrat also reportedly plans to increase taxes on insurance policies, on non-diet sodas under an "obesity tax," reviving the state sales tax on clothing, and changes in funding of hospitals and health care providers that could shift more health costs on individuals and employers.

The obesity tax would raise $404 million, according to the report. Additional costs for most New Yorkers would require new license plates — to trigger new fees. Action on a law passed by the Legislature would require the collection of sales taxes on cigarettes sold by Indian tribes, according to the report.


Governor Paterson proposes 'Obesity Tax,' a tax on non-diet sodas

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats a interesting name for a tax.
If anyone hasnt seen the skit from SNL yesterday when Fred Armisen played Patterson on the weekend update SNL news you have to see it.Its the funniest thing ive seen in a long time.Go to Hulu tv web site and search SNL or it may just pop up right away since its been getting a lot of hits.Hes joking about Patterson doing coke and Pattersons comments on New Jersey.

Anonymous said...

IS there a razor tax? The Gov grooms as if there were, maybe because of his sight?

If anything he is a the Gov - a little grooming by a barber would neaten his appearance - end the negative SNL portayals.

Anonymous said...

Is it impossible for these morons in Albany (or DC, or NYC) to ever CUT SPENDING?

Spending creates and cements constituencies.

Taxes punish the groups who vote wrong or are too disorganized to effectively protest. And they have less money to protest than the spending constituencies.

Anyway, who ever heard of a group on the dole protesting against free money?

Anonymous said...

News alert.If they cut spending they wouldnt be doing there job as American politicians.Thats why we have a debt everyone from reckless war spending and the waste was atrocious.Pay attention to the world currency right now.The pound is down,the dollar is way down, and the Euro is on top.

As far as Patterson, he says bloomberg throws tantrums and gets what he wants but then in public he says they have no problems.NYC and state just like Illinois have no dems or republicans, just one party fighting over screwing the public as sly as possible.Oh and Native Americans dont have to pay taxes on cigarettes they sell off their little property; a reservation.Thats treaty law.

Anonymous said...

Governor Paterson proposes 'Obesity Tax,' a tax on non-diet sodas
***********************************
FAT CHANCE!!!

Anonymous said...

So people are encouraged to drink saccharine\aspertame sodas that cause neauron receptor shorts and cancers?Those fake sweetners are dangerous as many studies have shown from major universities.

Anonymous said...

Great!Hes offended by the skit from SNL.If your a politician be prepared to be made fun of from comedy shows.ALso he admitted to doing cocaine when he was sworn in.

Anonymous said...

This is what you voted for, don't be crybabies when you have to pay more. Elections have consequences.

Kevin Walsh said...

>>>So people are encouraged to drink saccharine\aspertame sodas that cause neauron receptor shorts and cancers?Those fake sweetners are dangerous as many studies have shown from major universities.<<<

Actually they're now encouraged to drink tap water, apparently the only PC thing you can drink these days since sugar will kill you, aspertame will kill you, and plastic bottles for water and juice make nonbiodegradable garbage.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Kevin Walsh said...

Taxes aside (I don't like them, but I don't see around it without cutting services or cutting salaries and perks --which will never be done) I'm glad that Paterson fired back at SNL. I think Palin was a wimp for going on the show and playing along with them.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Anonymous said...

Palin deserved a lot more than she got. She's a fan of censorship(hundreds of Wasila residents were aware of this) with books that dont go with her narrow religious view,she used millions of tax dollars to build a stadium no one attends in Wasila,and shes proud of unintellecutual thinking and reading habits if there is any reading besides the bible.She has no idea who runs other countries or how corrupt Azerbijian(cheneys oil pipeline friend) and Afganistan are, and that Africa is a continent not a country. No thanks we had enough of that crusade.Get your missionaries out of Iraq too Assemblies of god.
By the way folks,if the country is not to fail miserably with more banks failing, the major economists predict with the debt created by bush the last 8 years from 10 billion a month in Iraq etc taxes will have to be at 42 % across the board for the debt to paid down so the dollar doesnt plummet anymore.
From ICH, Mike Whitney:
Now that Bernacke is hinting that interest hikes may slow down or stop entirely, central banks across the world are stealthily off-loading their dollar-stockpiles. The twin-deficits ($400 billion account deficit and $800 billion trade deficit) have finally come home to roost and are pushing the dollar to new lows.

Dick Cheney’s foolish axiom, “Deficits don’t matter” has turned into a funereal-dirge for the greenback. Deficits Do matter, and bankers around the world are proving that by hastily moving away from Uncle Sam’s washed-out script.

Meanwhile, at the Federal Reserve, new Fed-master Bernacke has the printing presses running at warp-speed. The soaring price of oil has soaked up more than a trillion dollars of freshly-minted fiat currency, but it’s the only thing that's kept the greenback from slipping beneath the waves. Unfortunately, that trick won’t last forever.

Anonymous said...

Within the past month the Economist has a marvelous review of the financial markets.

A bit thick reading, so sit down with a few hours and pick it apart. It is worth the investment of time.

What you say about the dollar is correct. But your fail to note one thing: every other currency is even more fouled up than the dollar.

1. The Brits have more debt than us (if that is possible)

2. the Euro is weaker than the dollar (if that is possible),

3. the Yen is supported by a GNP with 150% debt (higher than US if that is possible),

4. falling oil prices is throwing Russia and the Middle East into the toilet faster than US (if that is possible)

5. and falling industrial demand has unemployment skyrocketing faster in China than the US (if that is possible)

Like having the ills of overdevelpment caused by the tweeding clubhouse which is masked

1. by a sleeping press,

2. inept preservation community,

3. and uneducated or apathetic public (keep em focused on Brittany, Jennifer and McDonalds),

the folks running the nation know exactly what they are doing, too.

The problem then you ask?

1. Tweeding programs are going through the roof

2. You are going to pay for this until tears fall from your eyes.

Anonymous said...

Everyone things they have the most insightful, factual point of view. Remember when you drew that crayoned picture and your parents swooned all over you? My friends, you are neither wrong nor right but guessing. Those who make these decision in our government keep many secretes that we will never be told. Without that information we cannot assess the results. Sorry, I know you wanted to be so smart, and maybe you are, but just never informed enough to be correct, just always guessing, and that is exactly where they want you.

Anonymous said...

Insightful.

Bombast and theater aside, as long as there is dialogue, there is an opportunity to understand.

Go back and read the Adams quote we put on this blog.

The ball is in your court.

Anonymous said...

*Sorry, I know you wanted to be so smart, and maybe you are, but just never informed enough to be correct, just always guessing, and that is exactly where they want you.

The last two or three comments on the economy is no guess at all.Many economists are concerned and its not secret theres failing banks,unregulated hedge fund brokers, and dangerous financial approaches to the matter.And yes Hell Gate club kid the Euro is also not doing too well and maybe couldnt be the next currency yet but the dollar has been played with beyond belief.How many large banks can go belly up connected to Wall Street before it drives the rest of us into the wall.
Also the US Federal Reserve has slashed its key interest rate from 1% to a range of between zero and 0.25% as it battles the country's recession.
Theres lots of coinciding verifiable facts out there.The secret is in the open and foreign banks are dumping dollar investments.

Anonymous said...

The secret is in the open and foreign banks are dumping dollar investments.
---

for what currency ... ?

yen, euro, each have had their week in the sun.

Everyone knows we are going to inflate our way out of this ... all they need to do is stave off deflation.

Easier said than done...but Americans are a clever people. The path of history is littered with the corpses of those that thought otherwise.

Anonymous said...

>>>Everyone knows we are going to inflate our way out of this ... all they need to do is stave off deflation.

Easier said than done...but Americans are a clever people. The path of history is littered with the corpses of those that thought otherwise.

Excuse me!Those are hollow words with no example of how the debt will be paid off.That doesnt describe anything at all.You make it sound like one two three and we can make it to the yellow brick road.Go read what economists are pointing out.The only corpses are going to be those who fool themselves and dont understand were a young, very young country.Pay attention to countries that have been down this road before in Europe.
In the 1950's the U.S. owned British debt so we were allowed to dictate what they did with foreign policy and other actions.Think of that carefully.
If investment brokers and companies tell the truth and scare the investor, then theres trouble.

Anonymous said...

A more telling comparison that reveals just how much worse we're doing can be found among the current accounts of various nations. The current account measures the net trade surplus or deficit of a country plus cross-border payments of interest, royalties, dividends, capital gains, foreign aid, and other income. In order for Japan to manufacture anything, it must import all required raw materials. Even after this incredible expense is met, it still has an $88bn per year trade surplus with the U.S. and enjoys the world's second highest current account balance (China is number one). The U.S. is number 163 -- last on the list, worse than countries such as Australia and the U.K. that also have large trade deficits. Its 2006 current account deficit was $811.5bn; second worst was Spain at $106.4bn. This is unsustainable.

It's not just that our tastes for foreign goods, including imported oil, vastly exceed our ability to pay for them. We are financing them through massive borrowing. On 7 November 2007, the U.S. Treasury announced that the national debt had breached $9 trillion for the first time. This was just five weeks after Congress raised the "debt ceiling" to $9.815 trillion. If you begin in 1789, at the moment the constitution became the supreme law of the land, the debt accumulated by the federal government did not top $1 trillion until 1981. When George Bush became president in January 2001, it stood at approximately $5.7 trillion. Since then, it has increased by 45%.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but everyone else is stuck in the swamp as deep as us. Perhaps even deeper.

This country has enormous resources. Not only natural resources (when I worked for the Japs they considered US not an industrial but an agricultural powerhouse) infrastruce and human talent.

Not impressed with your grasp of history or the big picture.

Anonymous said...

things that may make you fat should not be taxed because some people can act like adults and use them in moderation - it's the fat people who should be taxed - Como and Seminerio - maybe just a tax on mozzarella?

Anonymous said...

Pay attention to countries that have been down this road before in Europe.
--------------

Europe is yesterday's news. UK is even more in debt than US.

America has gotten a little sloppy. Foreign workers, foreign money.

Give me the good ol US of A any day of the week ...

The first thing they should do is get rid of those offshore tax havens. A den of theives if I ever saw one.

Anonymous said...

Unrealistic expectations
built upon GREED rather than NEED is what got the world economy into the tailspin it's in!

And I'm afraid it will take quite a long time for it to stabilize.

In the mean time
we'd better all hold on tight because it's going to be
a rocky ride !

Quite a few of us might even wind up being tossed off the omnibus
onto the street.

Anonymous said...

First we had the "luv gov".

Now we have the "shove guv"!

He's sure sticking it to us
right the bung hole!