Governor Paterson Trims Obesity Tax And Others From Budget

“The controversial fat tax has been trimmed from the New York State budget, along with a number of other revenue-raising taxes and fees. Instead, Governor Paterson says he'll put a billion dollars from the federal stimulus package into New York State's budget. The governor, whose popularity has plummeted in recent polls, was in Rochester Wednesday for another in a series of upstate town hall meetings. Before the meeting Governor Paterson said the state would use more than a billion dollars in federal stimulus funds to cover the money that would have been raised with the 119 taxes and fees he proposed on everything from music downloads to sugar-filled drinks to haircuts, a plan that was highly unpopular. So how does plugging the budget fall under stimulus? The governor says there is a discretionary portion of the federal stimulus allotment. At the town hall meeting, moderated by News 10 NBC's Janet Lomax, the governor talked about the serious financial issues facing the state. ‘We are really up against it,’ explained Governor Paterson. ‘The state of California got to where we were and ignored it and wound up unable to meet its cash flow problems and with an over $40 billion deficit and the state of California is struggling for its own survival, even petitioned the federal government, and Massachusetts did as well to discuss if they could get a loan. ‘So we want to avoid that,’ the governor continued. ‘We want address our problems head on and I know that it's a hard message to take to people, so I didn't send any surrogates down here, I came down here myself, because if you're going to have to deliver news, then the leader of the state should come down here and tell you and that's why I came here tonight.’”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29649301/