GOV: LOOK OUT, TRUMP
Asserts power in State of State Vows suit to KO federal tax overhaul
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo unleashed an arsenal of political weapons Wednesday, as he repeated his warning that New York is under attack from a federal government bent on bleeding blue states to bolster red ones.
In his reelection-year State of the State address, Cuomo ripped President Trump and the Republicans who control Congress for a tax overhaul he said will hurt New York’s economy and for potential federal funding cuts that could add $2 billion to the state’s projected $4.4 billion deficit.
“These are challenging times, but we have to rise to the challenge for the survival of our state,” Cuomo said.
The governor, who has railed that the new tax law will devastate New York by severely reducing the federal deductions people can take for state and local taxes, announced New York will sue to block it. He also said he will help push a “repeal and reform” movement of a law he says favors red states over blue ones like New York.
“President Ford may have metaphorically told New York to drop dead in 1975 — but this federal government is the most hostile and aggressive toward New York in history,” Cuomo said with a picture of the famous Daily News front page projected on a screen next to him.
He also said New York is considering reducing reliance on income taxes, which the federal tax overhaul targets, by adopting a state payroll tax system that wouldn’t be affected by the federal actions.
“It is complicated. It is difficult. But it is clear we must protect New York taxpayers from this assault,” Cuomo said.
The idea to change the tax code won praise from frequent political foe Mayor de Blasio.
“I think this is a smart and important move by the governor and his administration to look for any way that would lessen the blow of the Republican tax bill,” he said.
But the feds weren’t the only ones Cuomo targeted in the speech.
Cuomo seemed to take several veiled digs at de Blasio over Rikers Island, a record homeless problem and the subways.
“Cheap political slogans are just that — cheap political slogans,” Cuomo said — without directly referencing the mayor’s call for a millionaires’ tax to fund the
subways that has been shot down by legislative leaders. “It’s not a real policy or policy discussion.”
After the speech, de Blasio didn’t shoot back at Cuomo, but he did defend his progressive chops. He also reiterated his call for the millionaires’ tax.
Discussing the growing scourge of opioid addiction, Cuomo likened drug manufacturing companies to the tobacco industry and said he plans to file a lawsuit against them. “Like the tobacco industry, they killed thousands, and they did it without warning,” Cuomo said. “We will make them pay for their illegal and reprehensible conduct.”
As he prepares to run for a third term, Cuomo, in his 92-minute speech — the longest of his tenure — touted a host of achievements during his first seven years in office, including the legalization of gay marriage, enactment of a tough gun control law, the phasing in of a $15-an-hour minimum wage, and creation of a state paid family leave program.
But he warned legislators that 2018 “may be the toughest year New York has faced in modern history.”
Even so, that didn’t stop him from unleashing new proposals like an anti-sexual harassment package and creation of a large state park in Brooklyn.
He also suggested he may pursue some type of congestion pricing to help fund the city’s troubled subway system.
“Funding must be provided in a very tight budget and funding must be provided this session because the riders have suffered for too long, politics has gone on for too long, and we can’t leave our riders stranded anymore — period,” Cuomo said.
Republicans were quick to accuse Cuomo of trying to shift the blame for the state’s budget and tax problems to the feds and for putting his potential national aspirations first.
“The governor’s White House dreams seem more ambitious than the agenda being set for New York,” said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, the only Republican so far to announce his intention to challenge Cuomo this year.
Advocates for a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice were upset Cuomo made no mention of the issue during his long speech.
He did, however, include a call for passage of the Child Victims Act in a policy agenda book he released shortly before the speech.
“In the #MeToo moment, it’s especially disappointing to see the governor fail to mention child victims of sexual abuse in his State of the State address, even as he correctly prioritizes the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace,” survivor Bridie Farrell and Michael Polenberg, of Safe Horizon, said in a joint statement.