Gov leaves tax hikes on the table

Gov. Cuomo kept the door open to approving billions of dollars in new taxes on businesses and wealthy residents, a day after New York’s top employers warned it could trigger the worst exodus since the Big Apple flirted with bankruptcy in the 1970s.

Cuomo, during a press conference Wednesday, rattled off his top priorities in budget talks with the Legislature: legalizing marijuana, improving public safety, COVID-19 reconstruction, green-energy expansion and nursing-home reform.

But Cuomo — who is battling multiple investigations into his handling of nursing homes during the pandemic and numerous sexual-harassment accusations — ignored the elephant in the room: the Legislature’s push to increase taxes by a record $7 billion.

Cuomo did not rule out raising taxes when questioned by a reporter, even though his budget director, Robert Mujica, on Monday said the state budget due April 1 could be adopted without cutting spending or substantially raising taxes, thanks to $12.6 billion in federal COVID emergency aid and $2.5 billion in betterthan-anticipated state revenues.

The only reason to increase taxes would be to accommodate additional spending on education, pandemic relief and other social services sought by the Democrat-run Senate and Assembly, Mujica said.

“You want to talk about 250 business leaders saying they’re worried about taxes.

You know what that second worry is going to be? Crime, crime,” said Cuomo, dancing around the issue.

Cuomo himself proposed a $1.5 billion income tax hike on millionaires in his executive budget plan released in January — but that was before knowing how much federal pandemic relief the state would get after President Biden took office.

Cuomo also claimed the state still faces a projected $2.5 billion deficit, despite the infusion of federal aid and stronger tax revenues — contradicting what Mujica said the other day.

“There’s no visible budget gap to the naked eye. Nothing is visible except a surplus,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy.

For the first time during his 10-year governorship, Cuomo faces a Democratrun Legislature where both houses have a two-thirdsplus majority to override his vetoes — if they stick together. So, if he vetoes state budget bills in a dispute over taxes, the Legislature could attempt to impose higher taxes.