The state legislature’s proposed budget is the best thing going. Not only was it passed in time, but it also features plenty of tax cuts, a sizable rebate for property owners, and has the best interests of families in mind.

Well, at least that’s what the legislature wants you to believe.

Taxpayers across NY have recently been inundated with a wide variety of truth-bending public relations gimmicks. In an attempt to put a positive spin on the 2006-2007 budget, newspaper opinion pages have been filled with flowery letters from legislators, mailboxes have been besieged with their dazzling fliers, and in nearly every interview in print and on air politicians tout the wonders of the budget, nary spouting a negative word about it.

Such PR does not reflect reality. Although there are a few good things with the budget, the vast majority of the budget continues to be detrimental to taxpayers and features items that will harm us in the future.

The initial gimmick of this year’s PR binge was the legislature’s pride in the budget being on time. They perceive such patting of their own backs as necessary in order to improve the image of they being routinely tardy; after all, last year’s budget was the first "timely" budget in two decades. But, such banter is so self-promoting that it’s bordering on humorous. Think about a real-world application of such logic: if you like they were to give your employer or customer a much-needed item at the very last minute possible would you brag that you are on time? It is doubtful you would. Most people don’t brag of their meeting a deadline, let alone right as the sands of the hourglass run out. If the legislature wanted timeliness they could legitimately brag of, the proposal would have been on the Governor’s desk on March 1, not March 31. Now that would be something to be proud of.

Another PR tool being used by the senate and assembly is their statements that the budget is full of tax cuts. The various letters and fliers have touted adjustments in the STAR program and cuts in property and clothing taxes. There may be cuts such as those interspersed throughout the plan, but they are few and fair between and other funding initiatives have picked up the slack. If the legislators’ claims of real tax reform were truthful the budget would not be 6% higher than it was last year. No spin can hide the mathematical fact that taxes are growing at the State level. Doubtless this budget will cause taxes to rise yet again at the level local as well, thanks to another budget year lacking in reform of Medicaid, the biggest killer of local-level property taxes.

The folks in Albany are also proud of the rebates taxpayers will receive as a benefit of last year’s budget surplus totaling $4 billion. Given the legislature does not reach an impasse with Governor Pataki over this issue, New Yorkers will receive rebate checks of $300 to $800 and potentially another $330 if their household has school-aged children. No one can deny that rebate checks are great and deserved by all taxpayers, but, the State legislature is planning to use these checks as a major PR tool: These payments won’t be received by New Yorkers until just before the November election. So, subconsciously, the incumbents will look marvelous to the voters as they head to the polls. This is a psychological act being done by the legislature to ensure they keep their jobs.

It should be known that the masquerade goes even deeper, as the surplus being used to fund these rebates will transform into debt in the coming years. Albany has gone from one extreme to the other as the budget proposal has potential to add $10 billion of debt in just the next two years, bringing the total legislature-created debt to $55 billion, a figure destined to haunt us for decades.

Despite political pronouncements to the contrary, not all is well with the budget. The word from Albany is fraught with too many half-truths and unwarranted optimism. In order to fully understand the impact on your pocketbooks you have to look at their fables with a discerning eye and instead focus on the realities of the New York political environment.