New York State’s official motto is "excelsior" which is Latin for "ever upward". Whoever chose that motto most have been a prophet, because you could not find a more fitting motto for the Empire State and how it has gone about fashioning budget and raising taxes over the past twenty-five years.

The unrestrained growth of the state budget beyond acceptable standards has been an ongoing issue since pennywise Hugh Carey left office in 1982. He was succeeded in office by Mario Cuomo whose liberal, Big Government mentality caused taxes and spending to rise significantly. Cuomo’s successor, George Pataki, proved to be no better despite his Conservative label. Taxes rose in every year of his reign and in the last year of his tenure the budget grew at its highest amount in three decades.

It was hoped by many that Eliot Spitzer would have changed this trend for the better and ventured into the territory of fiscal conservancy. In the first few months of his administration he had achieved some substantial victories in Albany that gave merit to such hope. But, alas, things fell apart and the desires of the masses were all for naught.

Our steamroller of a governor lost considerable steam in the budget process and became a part of the very system he despised. By tossing out his well-intended health and education reform initiatives he is now guilty of participating in the "Three Men In a Room" closed door system that has been the way of doing business in the Capitol. This is a corrupted system that perpetuates political patronage, legislative power, pork spending, waste, and, of course, big budgets.

The state budget that was passed under this scenario just two weeks ago has maintained the status quo in New York. By any normal definition "status quo" would mean that things had stayed the same and the budget grew negligibly. But, in New York, the "status quo" is not normal. It is Excelsior Incarnate, the act of spending beyond our means, that which the legislators and Governor have done yet again.

This year’s $121 billion budget is chock-full of bad math and is a perfect exemplification of bad government. This monstrous expenditure is 7.3% higher than last years budget, which, as mentioned earlier, was a monster in itself (it had grown at a 7.9% rate). This year’s 7.3% growth is almost three times the rate of inflation. To put this into terms that everyone will really understand - and really feel for - most employers across the US plan to increase wages by only 3.25% this year. So, as your wages rise slightly above the rate of inflation, the growth in state spending far outstrips your newfound income.

Speaking of income, this budget has the state spending much more than its anticipated income. A bevy of economists and state offices projected this budget year’s tax revenues to be in the territory of $118 billion. This places NY’s spending $3 billion beyond what it will theoretically have coming in. God forbid we have an economic downturn or some event that will make that deficit even worse. That being said, if common sense and frugality could be found in Albany, they would have strived for a budget that was far under anticipated revenues rather than one that far exceeded it. Add this debacle to NY’s current total debt load which is in the ballpark of $230 billion and, itself, suffering from a bad case of "Excelsior". To satisfy this mess of increased spending and ever-growing debt the government will have no choice but to raise taxes in the coming years.

Will the blood-letting ever end in the Empire State? The trend says "no". What’s occurring now says "no". The Spitzer Regime was supposed to change the way of doing things in Albany. It has with some issues, but when it really mattered - when the fiscal well-being of the State and all its citizens came to the fore – it lost. The State motto is right: It’s "Excelsior" forever in New York (unfortunately).