Bold taxation

Gov. Paterson unveiled his shiny new budget Sunday night, and the people aren't pleased. In an era of recession, fear of depression and budget shortfall, why, they want to know, are we to be taxed further than ever before?

And not just further, but more creatively. A 2 percent heating cost surcharge, vehicle registration fees, cigar beer and wine taxes, surcharges on auto insurance, rental car taxes and a nickel a pop for bottled water? Genius, pure genius...the Sheriff of Nottingham couldn't have done it better.

The Buffalo-Niagara region will be hit especially hard by these charges for a variety of reasons. For one thing, we have a deep-seated need for affordable heating, because this place emulates the Siberian outback eight months out of the year. We also have a major smoking population, despite the best efforts of UBreathe Free, and we have a lot of fools who won't drink out of the tap.

But this will hit us hardest for the simple fact that this region has very little money to be taxed on. That is the salt in the wound; the taxes themselves are not insurmountable, but with so many people living in dire straights, this feels like a kick in the teeth.

What else is there to do, though, really? We cannot cut $17.7 billion, our two-year deficit total, out of this year's budget; that money goes to things that we take for granted, like infrastructure and education. (Yes, those two things could afford some revamping anyway, but that's a different editorial.) There's a minimum amount of money needed to maintain our quality of life, and going below that minimum just makes the deficit bigger.

According to Paterson's office, however, the increased taxes, coupled with federal stimulus money, should erase our deficit relatively quickly. One way to look at this budget is to say that the further increased burden will limit the total amount of time we have to carry that burden. In other words, maybe paying more now will limit what we have to pay later.

There's not guarantee, though, and so Paterson must work his butt off to make sure these taxes do what he intends them to do. His gubernatorial tenure is already looking like it will be that of a sacrifice hitter; he intends to be the unpopular man who fixes things for the next guy, even if we hate him for it.

All we can do is hope he's on the right track and wish him luck.