Governor George Pataki’s final Executive Budget would increase state spending at well over twice the inflation rate while initiating a new round of significant state tax cuts that would not become fully effective until two years after he leaves office.
The proposed state funds spending hike (excluding federal funds) for fiscal 2007 is the second largest Pataki has proposed in his 12 years as governor. Even excluding added spending for the state takeover of local Medicaid costs and an added STAR property tax break, state funds spending will rise faster than the projected Consumer Price Index, as explained in a new FiscalWatch Memo here.
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