Tax Hikes, Budget Cuts In The Works For NYC

Marcia Kramer
HDTV 2
November 6, 2008

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to cut the city work force by 3,000, but that’s just the beginning of the pain New Yorkers will feel as part of the fiscal crisis. A slew of new taxes are also on the agenda.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

There will be 1,000 fewer cops, but the city will hire 200 more traffic agents to give out $60 million a year in new block-the-box tickets.

“The gravity of the budget situation requires us to propose both deep spending cuts and revenue increases,” Bloomberg said.

The spending cuts mean reducing the city work force. The revenue increases mean taxes — lots of taxes.

In the current fiscal year there’s the 7 percent property tax hike that starts in January — and the plan to renege on a promised $400 property tax rebate.

“I think the people of the city are going to be enraged,” City Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, said. “They’ve been told the check is in the mail on the rebate.”

To close budget gaps in the year that starts next July the mayor is thinking about a combination of sales tax increases and income tax hikes.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

“Every city agency must push each dollar further,” Bloomberg said. “We’re going to do that and doing that means making hard choices that will not be popular with everyone or perhaps anyone.”

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This article was posted: Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 9:32 am

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