NY State wants to tax music downloads.

skeezer wrote:I doubt that would ever happen

Just when you thought it was going to cost you more to have fun in New York State, lawmakers say they've changed their mind on some controversial fees and taxes.
Governor Paterson announced Wednesday that $1.3 billion in those fees and taxes are now off the table, thanks to the billions of dollars the state is getting from the federal stimulus package.

These are the taxes the governor wanted to put on things like sugary soda, downloading music, even bowling.

For weeks, Governor Paterson said we couldn't think about using the stimulus money to plug the state's budget gap because we didn't know how much we would get and because it was only temporary money.

Now he's changing his tune on the so-called fun and i-pod taxes.

$1.3 billion from New York's share of the federal stimulus money will be used to prevent imposing those controversial taxes and fees on things like sugary drinks, digital downloads and bowling that the governor says only came as a last resort.

Governor David Paterson: “Nobody wants to add problems to the citizens of New York. We're all faced with a very difficult period. We didn't get to some of these taxes and fees that we added on to the budget until we were already 13 billion in deficit.”

The change of heart comes from a three-way agreement with the Assembly and Senate Democratic majorities, whose leaders say even though this will ease the growing burden on New York's working families, there is more work to be done to put the state on the right fiscal track.

Sen. Malcolm Smith/D-Majority Leader: “We still have to reform the process of government. We still have to reform how the agencies are functioning as it relates to efficiency and there will be some cuts to some areas so that we can right-size this budget that we do have.”

Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos applauds the governor for embracing an idea he says his members proposed, but says more across the aisle cooperation could produce better results.

Sen. Dean Skelos/R-Minority Leader: “They are not including all within the negotiations. If they included all, good ideas could come out of it. Our idea about eliminating these fun taxes and fees, they listened to us, but include us in the negotiations.”

Government observers say this puts the focus on more important matters before the April 1 budget deadline.

Billy Easton/Alliance for Quality Education: “Now the debate can move from talking about iPod taxes and haircut taxes to how it is that we're going to restore devastating cuts for our school children and for important human services across the state.}

Also off the table - eliminating the state sales tax on clothes under $110, and a plan to tax personal services like haircuts and gym memberships.

We'll still have to wait until the budget is finally passed to see what winds up in and out.

Falcon095 wrote:Good luck with that.