A report released by the Rockefeller Institute of New York claiming that New York sends more money to Washington than we get back, resulting in our being shortchanged, is nothing new.
The report repeats the same old liberal Democratic playbook continuing to blame Washington for all of our problems just like their political ancestors from past decades. All have an insatiable appetite for more federal assistance with no concern about increasing the confiscatory level of taxation to generate the revenues along with growing long term borrowing to pay for this or how the billions of dollars are spent. They believe throwing more taxpayer dollars at problems will solve all of society’s ills.
Moving tax dollars from New York to Washington redistributes the wealth from the haves to the have-nots. The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan documented how New Yorkers sent more money to Washington than we get back. Other states could make the same argument. This imbalance also holds true in the distribution of state aid from Albany to the 62 counties of New York State Within Nassau County, residents of Town of North Hempstead, Hempstead, Oyster Bay, City of Glen Cove and City of Long Beach don’t always get back the same amount of money sent to Town Hall, Mineola, Albany and Washington. You could take this analysis down to every village and local census tract.
Since this imbalance will never change, we would be better off leaving tax levies at the most local level of government. There will be significant savings in administrative costs and a greater percentage of locally generated revenues remaining in our communities. Generating, keeping and spending local funds in your communities also allows greater accountability and oversight by public officials and citizens from the same neighborhoods.
—Larry Penner
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