Gov. Cuomo scored a major victory in his battle against a “millionaire’s tax’’ yesterday when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the tax’s leading advocate, pledged not to hold up next year’s budget in order to get the measure approved.
“I’m committed to a timely budget,’’ Silver told The Post. “Certainly, we think the millionaire’s tax is the right thing to do — we have cut to the bone and we’ll still need money to balance the budget next year.
“But we’re obviously committed to an on-time budget. While our job is advocacy, at some point compromise is the order of the day to get a timely budget,’’ Silver said.
By taking a budget delay off the table, Silver has eliminated the one strong lever he would have to try to force Cuomo to accept a proposal the governor says would harm New York’s ability to keep and attract high-income earners, insiders at the Capitol agree.
Silver fought Cuomo and the GOP-controlled state Senate unsuccessfully earlier this year for retention of a temporary “millionaire’s tax’’ on those earning $200,000-a-year and up that generated $5 billion annually in revenue.
That tax expires at the end of December.
While Cuomo has fought a New York-specific millionaire’s tax, he has endorsed a surcharge on high-income earners sought by President Obama — and US Sen. Charles Schumer — contending such a national levy wouldn’t hurt New York’s competitiveness.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are zeroing in on a plan that would reduce next year’s budget deficit by $1 billion — the long-discussed “conversion’’ of not-for-profit, health-care giant EmblemHealth to for-profit, investor-owned company status.
The change, which has been sought by the company for several years, requires state approval and would result in a huge one-time windfall payment to the state.
“It’s a real possibility,’’ said a senior fiscal expert at the Legislature.
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Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Junior G Man?
“AG Schneiderman arrests former NYS tax agent for stealing thousands,’’ read a press release from the AG’s office last month, falsely claiming the former Manhattan state senator had made the collar.
In fact, a properly authorized employee of the AG’s office made the arrest.
Schneiderman spokeswoman Jennifer Givner conceded that the attorney general doesn’t really have the legal authority to make arrests, but insisted the press-release hype was permissible because the AG is “the chief law-enforcement officer of the state.’’
But that’s another factually incorrect claim.
Legal experts insisted that the State Police superintendent is, in fact, the chief “law-enforcement officer’’ of the state, able to make and direct arrests in every jurisdiction, and that the attorney general doesn’t even come in second.