In their annual one-house budget resolutions, Democratic majorities in the state Assembly and Senate laid out their negotiating position for this year’s budget deal with Gov. Hochul.
They’ve decided to spend more — $13 billion more than the governor’s already-record $233 billion executive budget.
And tax high earners and corporations more too, despite Hochul’s opposition.
What would New Yorkers get for lawmakers’ nearly quarter-trillion dollars in state spending?
Start with illegal pot shops. The cannabis industry spent years and millions of dollars lobbying New York’s leaders in the leadup to legalization.
A regulated and taxed market was supposed to bring an economic boon.
Instead, it’s paved the way for the proliferation of thousands of cash-based unlicensed shops that aren’t buying from New York’s regulated growers or paying cannabis fees and taxes.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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John Ketcham is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by Adam Grey/Getty Images