The state of New York, its agencies, and cities face a $59-billion budget chasm through 2022 due to the costs of coping with the COVID pandemic and the effects of the economic shutdown, state and city agencies have calculated.
The $59 billion figure is more than half of the state’s current operating budget.
The state alone will see a $14-billion gap this fiscal year and $16 billion in the next, governor Andrew Cuomo announced.
Cities around the state will confront $13.5 billion in missing revenues, he said.
Taxes will rise and state services will be slashed unless Congress passes an aid package for state and local governments, he warned.
Moody’s Investor Services has forecast a $22-billion state-level deficit through 2022.
New York State entered the pandemic with the seventh smallest rainy-day fund of any state, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Also, from March through August, the state’s tax revenues dropped 6.8 percent, the ninth-greatest decline among states, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Urban Institute.
Cuomo has delayed discussions of tax increases, which are favored by many Democrats in the state legislature.
TREND FORECAST: As tax revenues continue to decline, states and cities across the nation will go deeper in debt. The numerous financial schemes undreamed-of to keep them from going bankrupt will prove unsustainable.
As we have forecast, to raise more money, politicians will increase taxes. Thus, anti-tax, anti-vax, and anti-establishment will be new platforms for new third-party movements.
