New York’s state budget for the next fiscal year, at a record $ 212 billion, is finally passed, though not by April 1, as expected, but belatedly. Among the reasons for the delay are called COVID, and the scandals in which the governor got stuck.
State Assembly Speaker Karl Heisty noted with satisfaction: “In my two decades in elected office, I have not remembered any other budget that went so far and had such serious consequences as this one.”
Equally enthusiastic was the governor’s assessment: “We have not only balanced our budget, but we are also going to make investments of historic importance, designed to rethink, recreate and renew New York after the worst economic and health crisis in a century.”
The budget includes an estimated $ 4.3 billion in revenue from higher taxes on the highest paid citizens and corporations. New Yorkers, who individually earn $ 1 million a year, and married couples with an income of $ 2 million, will have to pay more. Two new tax scales will also be established for those who have between $ 5 million and $ 25 million a year. Opponents of the tax increase warned that this the measure can cause the flight of the most successful, wealthy people from the state, from whom considerable sums go to the treasury. However, Senator Liz Krueger, who chairs the finance committee, dismissed objections, pointing out that such taxpayers in the state are an insignificant minority, no more than 50 thousand.
The budget includes $ 29.5 billion in aid to schools, an increase of $ 3 billion from last year, as well as $ 2.4 billion for preschools. Grants are planned for $ 40 million for the non-profit arts sector and $ 35 million for a restaurant assistance program called “Restaurant Return-to-Work Tax Credit”.
The $ 2.1 billion fund is intended for so-called “excluded workers”, that is, undocumented immigrants who were not covered by unemployment benefits and other benefits from federal and state programs during the pandemic.
$ 2.4 billion will go to help tenants, allowing them to pay 12 months’ arrears for rent and utilities.
Newspaper headline:
Budget adopted