John Hall Green-Lights Massive Tax Hikes

New York Dem Endorses Job-Killing Agenda with Support of Paygo Sham

Washington- John Hall handed Nancy Pelosi and his Democrat leaders a free pass to tax New York businesses and families to the hilt today. By voting for the Democrats’ so-called Paygo bill, Hall gave the go-ahead for his party leaders to spend all the taxpayer money they want – and virtually ensured that they would have to raise taxes to do so.

Though Democrats have tried to sell their Paygo sham as a step toward fiscal responsibility, the ugly truth is that the bill is a free pass to spend taxpayers’ money and stick them with the bill:

“[T]he President is trying to give Democrats in Congress political cover for the health-care blowout and tax-increase votes that he knows are coming… The other goal of this new paygo campaign is to make it easier to raise taxes in 2011, and impossible to cut taxes for years after that.” (“The ‘Paygo’ Coverup,” Wall Street Journal, 6/12/09)

“John Hall likes to play the ‘fiscal responsibility’ game, but the dirty truth is that he just gave his party leaders a blank check signed by New York taxpayers,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “As Hall and his Democrat friends attempt to push an agenda that is bankrupting the middle class, the last thing New York families want to see is a free pass for Nancy Pelosi to squeeze as much money out of them as she pleases.”

Background:

Senate Dems and policy experts think the House Paygo plan is empty: “House Democrats’ pay-as-you-go bill does not impress its Senate counterparts or various budget experts, who argue the legislation isn't as strong as the rules now in place… [S]enior Democrats in the upper chamber aren't eager to take up the legislation, arguing that it will do little to rein in deficits.” (Walter Alarkon, “House Dems Not Winning Over Critics with Pay-As-You-Go Legislation,” The Hill, 7/21/09)

Democrats are using Paygo as a building block for their tax-hiking, big-government agenda: “Paygo also can be used to justify all kinds of new taxes — from a Euro-style value-added tax to cap-and-trade levies. Since entitlements — the fastest-growing part of the budget — are excluded from Paygo, it won't stop the inexorable growth of government. It won't even slow it down much.” (“The President’s Paygo Schtick,” Investor’s Business Daily, 6/10/09)

Even liberal allies see through the Paygo sham: “‘Concerned that a slew of early PAYGO waivers would undermine the law's long-term effectiveness, Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal-oriented Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the [House Budget] committee: ‘It makes no sense to put in place a pay-as-you-go rule that says these extensions must be paid for when everyone knows they will not be.’” (David Dickson, “White House Pushes Pay-As-You-Go Bill,” Washington Times, 6/26/09)