A Tale of Two Governors

Newly elected New Jersey Governor Chris Christie promises to rein in spending, cut taxes and cut the state deficit upon taking the oath of office.

"The era of runaway spending and higher and higher taxes has not worked," he said in prepared remarks. "We have the largest budget deficit per person of any state in the union. We have the highest tax rates in the nation ... Today, a new era of lower taxes and higher growth will begin."

David Paterson meanwhile has been warning New York about an inevitable day of reckoning, citing "mistakes of the past, the squandering of surpluses, the papering over of deficits, the relying on gimmicks to finance unsustainable spending increases has led us to the breaking point," and therefore proposes a budget of $136 billion dollars (a .5% increase), and $1.1 billion of increased taxes and fees like a $465 million excise tax on corn syrup, a buck a pack cigarette tax hike ($210 million), $216 million levies on healthcare providers. And a bunch of other stuff.

Which looks an awful lot like that other stuff he was complaining about.

posted by Dave In Texas at 02:35 PM

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