Only the Dems can make $500 million = $9 billion.

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

While pandering to his audience at a recent union rally, Democratic Party leader John Wisniewski said the state should raise the state’s income tax and otherwise “find a way” to pay all of its $3.5 billion pension obligation this year. He said, “It’s about keeping a promise.”

If that’s the case, why didn’t Assemblyman Wisniewski and his party make the annual required pension payments when Democrats controlled the Legislature and governor’s office for eight years?

The assemblyman has proposed raising the income tax on our state’s highest-income earners, also our job creators, as a “solution” to funding the $3.5 billion payment. Democrats admit such a tax hike would only garner $500 million.

Yet they have targeted that $500 million to fund $9 billion worth of programs, which also include property tax relief ($2.1 billion), schools ($1.6 billion), job incentives ($800 million), municipal aid ($445 million), preschool funding ($400 million), Medicaid ($300 million) and nursing homes ($70 million).

Seems Assemblyman Wisniewski is using the same type of warped mathematical calculations used to “balance” the state budget over the past decade — which has led us to the brink of fiscal ruin. Of course, if he can seriously explain how $500 million will fund $9 billion, I’m willing to listen. However, we need the answer by June 30, when a balanced budget is due.

I’m confident the various groups Democrats pander to are smart enough to see through this sham and demand the kind of serious reform that will benefit everyone in the long term. I know our taxpayers do.

Posted: May 5th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Declan O'Scanlon, John Wisniewski | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, John Wisniewski | Comments Off on Only the Dems can make $500 million = $9 billion.

• Tweet

---