New York Governor Facing Cuts To Health, Nursing Home Care Proposes Obesity Tax On Soda

Albany, NY (AHN) - New York Gov. David Patterson is drawing fire for both his planned budget cuts as well as his plans to avoid raising taxes on the wealthy and focus instead on 88 new taxes that will disproportionately affect middle-income and lower-income workers.

Faced with a $15.4 billion deficit, Patterson is making cuts to everything from education to health and nursing home care in an attempt to balance the budget. He is also axing a proposed raise for state employees next year and eliminating more than 3,000 jobs, mostly through attrition.

But cuts won't be enough to close the budget gap, so the governor is turning to raising revenue by hiking taxes.

He is proposing 88 new, or higher taxes, on things that include soda, haircuts, movie tickets and downloadable music.

Critics say that those taxes will affect people who can least afford it and suggest that he hike income taxes on those who can afford to pay. They point out that increasing the tax on people who earn more than $250,000 would bring in $5 billion.

However, Patterson has said he is opposed to the idea of asking the rich to shoulder more of the costs by paying more income tax because he thinks they would leave the state for other places with lower taxes.

But while Patterson is advocating for the rich, the American Beverage Association is advocating for the middle-class who they say will be harmed by the proposed 18 percent tax on sugary soda drinks.

Patterson's administration has defended the tax as a sort of obesity tax. Being obese does sometimes lead to higher medical care costs and the state has less money for those expenses. However, the American Beverage Association argues that singling out one food product as the cause for obesity just doesn't make sense.