on March 12th and/or March 19th to stop Pataki’s cuts to Medicaid.
Any one want to come?
At the Legislative Update breakfast Pataki isaid he wants to:
-Cut funding to hospitals and nursing homes resulting in facilities closing around the state.
-Eliminate Family Health Plus coverage for mental health, substance abuse, vision, speech, hearing, ambulance as well as create a 12 month gap in coverage for the previously insured.
- Cut Medicaid coverage for mental health, dental, podiatry and audiology.
Here’s what to do:
3) Get on the Bus- go to Albany on March 29th to speak to legislators and rally in support of a fair budget for ALL New Yorkers. The bus is free and food will be provided in Albany.
More reasons to go:
Pataki has released his budget proposal.
It’s a budget that the other George (George W. Bush) would be proud of. Embracing Grover Norquist’s ideal to “get government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub,” Pataki is excusing corporations and the wealth from such onerous civic responsibilities as paying taxes and is using the $4 billion budget shortfall as an excuse to rev up his chainsaw in preparation for some “budget trimming.”
The Governor wants to institute full family sanctions to those on public assistance. What are full family sanctions? Currently, if a parent on public assistance does not comply with the gauntlet of regulations at the social services office, that parent will be denied public assistance (“sanctioned”). Pataki is now proposing that public assistance also be discontinued to the children in the household. But if you earn six figures this is your year to get a tax break because Pataki is proposing canceling the income tax surcharge on New Yorkers earning six figures.
Why is New York facing a budget shortfall? One of the main reasons is Pataki’s reckless tax cuts to the wealthiest New Yorkers. The top tax bracket in New York has shrunk in half over the last 25 years. The price tag for Pataki’s tax cuts to these folks is now $15 billion. The rest of us are left holding the bill. Under Pataki, the poorest New Yorkers now pay twice as much of their income in tax than the richest New Yorkers. If we reset our income tax rates back to the 1972 levels we’d raise an extra $7 billion in revenue while 95% of all New Yorkers would see a decrease in their state tax bill.
Rather than ask those New Yorkers who have benefited the most from our economy to pay their fair share, Pataki is saying we should cut Medicaid to the most vulnerable New Yorkers. He is proposing cutting Medicaid coverage of mental health, dental, podiatry and audiology services. And after blanketing our TV screens with campaign ads featuring himself and happy families celebrating New York’s Family Health Plus insurance program, Pataki wants to increase the co pay and eliminate vision, dental and mental coverage under Family Health Plus and create a 12 month gap for the previously insured. He also wants to reduce payments to hospitals and nursing homes, increase SUNY and CUNY tuition and mandate that students wait until they graduate from college before receiving the final half of their Tuition Assistance Program grant (TAP).
Meanwhile we are giving Empire Zone tax breaks to corporations like Sutherland Global Services of Rochester. What does Sutherland do? They provide consulting to corporations looking to outsource jobs overseas. Their tax load just got a lot lighter but the New Yorkers who are left unemployed when their jobs go overseas are stuck waiting for 12 months to receive Family Health Plus coverage.
The Empire Zone program was initiated to encourage job creating enterprises in the most distressed inner city communities. But under Pataki the program has fallen down the rabbit hole. In Perinton, a community where the median household income is around $89,000, the posh Powder Mill Office Park is receiving Empire Zone subsidies. We could save hundreds of millions of dollars by stopping this kind of blatant corporate welfare.
But it’s not like Pataki isn’t going to try to raise some more revenue. Our Governor is proposing to raise taxes in the way that hurts working families the hardest- sales tax. Pataki wants to plug the clothing sales tax loophole. Closing loopholes is a good idea but Pataki isn’t talking about closing corporate loopholes like the “nowhere income” loophole that allows large corporations to avoid paying taxes on sales in New York just because they don’t have an office in this state. Corporate loopholes like that add up to about $1 billion in lost revenue. Last year Merrill Lynch didn’t pay any taxes into our state coffers.
We could also save another billion dollars if the state started bulk purchasing of prescription drugs. Other revenue possibilities include expanding the bottle bill, making polluters pay for permits under the global warming cap and stopping the wasteful outsourcing of state jobs to private consultants that charge more and provide worse service than state workers.
But we can’t sit on our hands if we want to change the state budget priorities. Like Bush, Pataki’s vision is to shrink the government programs that help working families while expanding the programs that benefit the corporations and the wealthy that contribute to his political campaigns.
In the next few months we are going to hear a lot from the pundits about how late the budget is. But according to a recent Pace University poll, the reality is that most New Yorkers care a lot more about getting a fair budget that preserves spending on schools and health care than getting one that is on time but cuts services.
call (right now) 325-2560 to reserve your seat on the bus to Albany on March 29th. The bus ride is free and complementary meals will be provided in Albany. We’ll rally at the Capital and talk to legislators about our vision for New York.
See you on the bus.
At the Legislative Update breakfast Pataki isaid he wants to:
-Cut funding to hospitals and nursing homes resulting in facilities closing around the state.
-Eliminate Family Health Plus coverage for mental health, substance abuse, vision, speech, hearing, ambulance as well as create a 12 month gap in coverage for the previously insured.
- Cut Medicaid coverage for mental health, dental, podiatry and audiology.
Here’s what to do:
3) Get on the Bus- go to Albany on March 29th to speak to legislators and rally in support of a fair budget for ALL New Yorkers. The bus is free and food will be provided in Albany.
More reasons to go:
Pataki has released his budget proposal.
It’s a budget that the other George (George W. Bush) would be proud of. Embracing Grover Norquist’s ideal to “get government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub,” Pataki is excusing corporations and the wealth from such onerous civic responsibilities as paying taxes and is using the $4 billion budget shortfall as an excuse to rev up his chainsaw in preparation for some “budget trimming.”
The Governor wants to institute full family sanctions to those on public assistance. What are full family sanctions? Currently, if a parent on public assistance does not comply with the gauntlet of regulations at the social services office, that parent will be denied public assistance (“sanctioned”). Pataki is now proposing that public assistance also be discontinued to the children in the household. But if you earn six figures this is your year to get a tax break because Pataki is proposing canceling the income tax surcharge on New Yorkers earning six figures.
Why is New York facing a budget shortfall? One of the main reasons is Pataki’s reckless tax cuts to the wealthiest New Yorkers. The top tax bracket in New York has shrunk in half over the last 25 years. The price tag for Pataki’s tax cuts to these folks is now $15 billion. The rest of us are left holding the bill. Under Pataki, the poorest New Yorkers now pay twice as much of their income in tax than the richest New Yorkers. If we reset our income tax rates back to the 1972 levels we’d raise an extra $7 billion in revenue while 95% of all New Yorkers would see a decrease in their state tax bill.
Rather than ask those New Yorkers who have benefited the most from our economy to pay their fair share, Pataki is saying we should cut Medicaid to the most vulnerable New Yorkers. He is proposing cutting Medicaid coverage of mental health, dental, podiatry and audiology services. And after blanketing our TV screens with campaign ads featuring himself and happy families celebrating New York’s Family Health Plus insurance program, Pataki wants to increase the co pay and eliminate vision, dental and mental coverage under Family Health Plus and create a 12 month gap for the previously insured. He also wants to reduce payments to hospitals and nursing homes, increase SUNY and CUNY tuition and mandate that students wait until they graduate from college before receiving the final half of their Tuition Assistance Program grant (TAP).
Meanwhile we are giving Empire Zone tax breaks to corporations like Sutherland Global Services of Rochester. What does Sutherland do? They provide consulting to corporations looking to outsource jobs overseas. Their tax load just got a lot lighter but the New Yorkers who are left unemployed when their jobs go overseas are stuck waiting for 12 months to receive Family Health Plus coverage.
The Empire Zone program was initiated to encourage job creating enterprises in the most distressed inner city communities. But under Pataki the program has fallen down the rabbit hole. In Perinton, a community where the median household income is around $89,000, the posh Powder Mill Office Park is receiving Empire Zone subsidies. We could save hundreds of millions of dollars by stopping this kind of blatant corporate welfare.
But it’s not like Pataki isn’t going to try to raise some more revenue. Our Governor is proposing to raise taxes in the way that hurts working families the hardest- sales tax. Pataki wants to plug the clothing sales tax loophole. Closing loopholes is a good idea but Pataki isn’t talking about closing corporate loopholes like the “nowhere income” loophole that allows large corporations to avoid paying taxes on sales in New York just because they don’t have an office in this state. Corporate loopholes like that add up to about $1 billion in lost revenue. Last year Merrill Lynch didn’t pay any taxes into our state coffers.
We could also save another billion dollars if the state started bulk purchasing of prescription drugs. Other revenue possibilities include expanding the bottle bill, making polluters pay for permits under the global warming cap and stopping the wasteful outsourcing of state jobs to private consultants that charge more and provide worse service than state workers.
But we can’t sit on our hands if we want to change the state budget priorities. Like Bush, Pataki’s vision is to shrink the government programs that help working families while expanding the programs that benefit the corporations and the wealthy that contribute to his political campaigns.
In the next few months we are going to hear a lot from the pundits about how late the budget is. But according to a recent Pace University poll, the reality is that most New Yorkers care a lot more about getting a fair budget that preserves spending on schools and health care than getting one that is on time but cuts services.
call (right now) 325-2560 to reserve your seat on the bus to Albany on March 29th. The bus ride is free and complementary meals will be provided in Albany. We’ll rally at the Capital and talk to legislators about our vision for New York.
See you on the bus.