June 26, 2017. An article featured in the Times Union discusses the proposal of Governor Cuomo’s “Faso-Collins Federal Tax,” which is a $2.3 billion tax added on to local property taxes in New York State in order to offset the costs of Medicaid. The article notes that some do not support this proposal and criticize the governor for not cutting his own budget and deem is as a scheme and suggest that another source of revenue is needed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday warned of the need for a new $2.3 billion tax to offset the cost of the state absorbing county Medicaid expenses if an add-on to federal health care legislation is signed into law.
The bill currently before the U.S. Senate preserves an amendment tacked onto the House version that would require New York state — and New York state alone — to absorb county Medicaid costs beginning in 2020. Cuomo wrote in a letter to members of Congress that state taxpayers will face a “‘Faso-Collins Federal Tax’ added onto local property taxes” if the provision makes it into law.
Ron Deutsch of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a fiscally progressive think tank, pointed to some state economic development spending as a place to consider trimming. So did the Citizens Budget Commission’s David Friedfel.
The state has “already been spending at a lower rate than we have in the past,” Deutsch said, noting Cuomo’s self-imposed 2 percent cap on spending increases. “So I think inevitably they’re going to have to look at some sort of revenue-raiser.”
Here is the link to the Times Union.