Democrats really need to raise taxes to be able to offer a balanced budget with well funded social programs.
One option for raising taxes was to change the way certain fund managers are taxed from being taxed at capital gains rates of to the income rates for the level of their pay. This option which effects about 0.001% of Americans would increase taxes by tens of billions of dollars. Another option is to increase the taxes (aside from local sales tax) on certain goods, such as alcohol, tobacco, and gasoline, from being per volume to being per dollar value of the good. This allows the tax to be indexed to inflation rather than allowing the tax on these goods to fall as the price of the commodity increases. Furthermore, we should increase the taxes on property use to obtain resources such as minerals, lumber, natural gas, coal, and oil, from public land. These tax increases should allow a healthy funding increase for social programs.
However, I also want to see a reduction in the cost of living and doing business specifically in New York State. I think this can be accomplished by creating a state owned insurance company to provide workers compensation and health insurance for goverment employees as well as small businesses operating solely within the state. Workers compensation and health insurance are among the highest costs for organizations. Reducing these costs would reduce the cost of doing business in New York State and thereby increase the size of the business sector. Further, the reduction in local costs for insurance would reduce property taxes. Reduced property taxes would result in another decreased cost of doing business in New York State and thereby further increase the size of the business sector. Reduced property taxes would also bring more people to live in New York State. Put together, increased business activity and increased population would mean more tax base which further improves the economic situation in New York State.
