Che New dork Cimes :

Founded in 1851

a9 ADOLPH S. OCHS, Publisher 1896-1935
ARTHUR HAYS SULZBERGER, Publisher 1935-1961

} ORVIL E. DRYFOOS, Publisher 1961-1963
ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER, Publisher 1963-1992

36

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shoot. 6

SOMA GOLDEN BEHR DAVID R. JONES

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.

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mine to Rethink the Tax Cuts

“ih

*” The student protests against his education cuts
pyt.Gov. George Pataki in a pedagogical mood. He
legtured the students fiercely about the need to
“being desperately needed fiscal sanity” to the task
ofireducing a $5 billion deficit. If only the Governor
would listen to his own sermon. He would realize
that now is not the time to aggravate that deficit
with a nonsensical tax cut that accounts for 15
pércent of the deficit figure he cited. Now that the
brutal hardship of the budget numbers is clear, he
must not let ideology triumph over his common
sense and his duty to the well-being of the people of
New York.

Of course, Mr. Pataki ran for governor on a
sweeping tax-cut pledge, and he is right about the
need for some tax relief for New Yorkers. But he
also promised that the cuts could be carried out
sensibly, if not painlessly.

ce! The current wave of protests represents the
rebellion of reasonable minds. The reductions in
health care, social services and education have hit
the outer limit of conscience, and New York City in
particular is being bludgeoned. It is time for the
Governor and the Legislature to scale back Mr.
P&taki’s proposed tax cut in line with what he
rightly called fiscal sanity.

oh It was only after the election that Mr. Pataki
and others say they discovered that the size of the
Stade’s looming deficit would require a budget that
would shred the safety net for the poor, including
programs that affect children, the elderly and men-
tally disabled. Middle-class families may have vot-
edfor Mr. Pataki in hopes of a tax cut, but they are
new bridling at the news that a payout of a few
htitidred dollars would be accompanied by shut-
téted hospitals, huge tuition hikes at the State
Upiversity and more crowding in public schools —
or, property-tax hikes to pay for the Governor’s
freeze in school aid. The state’s previously enacted
tax cut, combined with Mr. Pataki’s add-ons, would
cost $720 million next year, but it would grow
“terifold by the end of the decade, all but guarantee-
Mme bigger cutbacks down the road.
{For their part, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Sil-

er.and the Democrats should abandon efforts to
butdo the Republicans with a more progressive tax
tut of their own and look more to heading off the
s ‘ 3

worst budget cuts. The Democrats could also prom-
ise to work with the Governor to reduce the cost of
state government and the explosive growth of enti-
tlement programs. That would clear the way for a
tax cut later on.

With little time before the start of the next
fiscal year on April 1, a serious impediment to
staving off the worst cuts has surfaced in the form
of discord between Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and
New York City’s supporters among the Democrats
in the Legislature. At present, they are working at
cross purposes, undercutting their common cause.

The Mayor has advanced a laundry list of $350
million in savings in education, mental health and
other areas that would help close his own deficit,
now estimated at $3 billion. Speaker Silver wants to
help the city with its budget problems, but he is also
looking to stave off the worst of the welfare and
Medicaid cuts and the cuts to higher education,
especially tuition increases at the City University
and State University, even though doing so will not
help Mr. Giuliani with his budget. In fact, restoring
state cutbacks in welfare and Medicaid would re-
quire the city to come up with its own matching
funds.

Both politicians are reverting to type. Mr.
Silver is the traditional Democrat, looking to the
state and city to spend more money for education
and the poor and middle class. Mr. Giuliani, more in
tune philosophically in this instance with his fellow
Republicans, sees welfare and Medicaid spending
and low tuition at City University not as a boon to
the poor and working class but as a burden to the
city budget.

Right now there is bad blood underscoring the
political differences that both the Mayor and the
Speaker need to put behind them if the city’s
interests are to be served. The Speaker may quietly
feel that the Mayor is simply currying favor with
the Republicans as penance for endorsing Gov.
Mario Cuomo last year. Mr. Giuliani may feel that
the Speaker is part of the old tax-and-spend crowd
that favors giveaways without the means to pay for
them. Whatever the politics, personalities and phi-
losophy, they need to get together fast and speak
with one voice to protect New Yorkers from the
worst. Each day brings the city and state closer to
approval of a budget that would do such extensive
damage that it would take years to repair.