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Governor Cuomo and state legislators recently approved an expensive, tax-hiking, bloated mess of a state budget. Even after Cuomo begged for a federal bailout of the state to close a budget gap – which President Biden and Congressional Democrats granted – he signed a budget that raises taxes on high earners.

The state was already sending the message that these people and businesses were not welcome, New York lost population and Congressional seat in the Census. The budget just amplified that message.

For most states this would be more than enough damage to cause in one legislative session, but in Albany, New York state legislators continue to dig an even deeper hole.

The Democrat supermajority’s late session priorities include phony antitrust legislation, a government takeover of healthcare, and a second gas tax.

Twenty-First Century Anti-Trust Act (SB 933) pushed by New York City Senators Mike Gianaris, and Democratic-Socialist Julia Salazar, would use a new, European-style “dominance” rule to determine if a company should face jacked up fines and criminal penalties in response.

A company is presumed dominant if they have 40% of the market as a seller, or 30% as a buyer – so their competitors would control most of the market, yet that company would be considered “dominant.” 

In a giveaway to trial lawyers, the bill would make it so any successful business can be sued into oblivion through class action suits.

This disastrous policy would force companies to either stop doing business in New York, or cower in fear of regulators imposing huge fines. The problem for the rest of the country is that any company adapting to these rules in New York would effectively transfer them on other states. New York would get set a de facto standard for the rest of the country.

Gaining market position sounds like the entire point of starting a business. Obviously, New York is not open to business.   

Activists and avowed socialist politicians driving away Amazon’s HQ2 was not a blip, that was the new normal for New York, and now with this absurd anti-trust policy all business sectors would face heavy scrutiny.

For families who want some choice in their healthcare, Albany has the New York Health Act. The bill would have government control healthcare in the state, ending private insurance. This “free” healthcare system would cost $140 billion in new taxes.

If fewer jobs, and losing your healthcare doesn’t sound bad enough, how about paying more to live your everyday life?

The Climate and Community Investment Act would create a second gas tax, at 55 cents-per-gallon, more than doubling the states effective gas tax. This would give New York the highest combined gas tax in the nation.

Not only does this regressive tax hurt people driving to work, or to run daily errands, it will make good shipped into the state more expensive. New York’s completely unaffordable cost-of-living would go even higher with this tax.

This legislation takes aim at businesses, families, workers, and taxpayers, it would make the already-unaffordable state a complete nightmare. With Republicans relegated to watching the Democrat supermajority run the show, Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders will have to allow session to end without passage of these measures for New York to have a future.