ALBANY – Invoking the novelist Ayn Rand, Gov. Paterson yesterday sounded a conservative message of tax cuts, business development, and fiscal restraint before Congress – even as he sought billions of federal dollars to help the state cope with its massive looming deficits.
Paterson, appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), said state officials were committed to slashing spending and addressing the deficits without raising taxes, at least for now.
“We have agreed that any taxation right now would only exacerbate the problem,” Paterson said.
“If anything, we need to lower taxes for some of our businesses that would hope to create jobs, so that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers don’t leave the state, as they do every year, for other areas where the life quality is better.”
Paterson’s testimony was aimed at influencing distribution of a second, $150 billion federal economic stimulus package.
Paterson cited Rand, a libertarian icon, and her best-seller “The Fountainhead,” noting the novel proclaimed that “our country, the greatest country in the world, was founded on the basis of individuals, where people were encouraged to adventure, not to be complacent; to be daring, not dormant; to prosper, not to plunder.”
He went on to say that a failure to live by those principles, combined with a lack of transparency and governmental oversight, had “brought us to the point where our nation faces a downturn in its economy only rivaled by the Great Depression.”
A day earlier, the governor had outlined a dire and worsening financial forecast that included an unprecedented projected $47 billion budget deficit for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Yesterday, he told committee members that while he was aware “that we have to put our own house in order,” federal assistance will still be necessary.
“We are cutting all we can and we will cut all that we are able to, but, inevitably, the deficit is too voluminous for us to address,” Paterson said.
“Just like the financial-services industry, we need a partner in the federal government in order to help stave off an impending financial calamity and stabilize our fiscal condition.
“I am not here to beg. I am here to say New York doesn’t need a handout – we need a hand back,” he added, noting that New Yorkers pay far more in taxes to Washington than they get in return.
He called on Congress to consider a sharp hike in federal Medicaid payments to the states, along with increased unemployment-insurance benefits, infrastructure spending, and food-stamp benefits.
“We feel that food stamps are the best economy stimulus,” Paterson said.
He also said New York had “40 shovel-ready programs for improving highways and bridges,” but lacked funds to pay for them.
Rangel made no promises, but said he hoped Democratic and Republican leaders “would be able to confer and come back after the election and see what we can do to provide assistance to local and state governments.”
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said shortly before Paterson’s appearance that he’ll fight for more federal aid to hard-pressed states because the alternative – greater state budget cuts and higher taxes – could “undo any good that comes” from a federal stimulus package.