Some clichés exist for a reason- they’re true. As more pundits, activist groups and elected officials continue to analyze the recently enacted state budget, you’ll probably hear some version of “budgets are about priorities” a few times. And there’s a lot of truth to that. Whether you’re a non-profit or a family or a state government, what you chose to fund ultimately says a lot about your values.

Budgets, however, are also about budgeting. They’re about real fiscal constraints, real numbers and real planning. The Majority members authorized a budget that’s deeply at odds with the long-term economic viability of the state. In short, their budget doesn’t budget very well.

The topline spending jumps off the page. Their $212 billion budget represents an 18.9% increase. That sort of one-year spike would’ve been a nonstarter as recently as 2018, when the Minority controlled the state Senate. For some context, this budget spends more than Texas and Florida combined. Both have higher populations than New York.

Majority politicians spent more on lump-sum payments for undocumented immigrants than on state aid for local infrastructure and small business recovery combined. And despite dozens in their ranks calling for the governor to resign amidst twin impeachment and attorney general investigations, they fully-funded his corrupt economic development programs without creating any new oversight measures. Why would you hand $150 million to someone you just said is unfit to serve?

The Majority members also hiked taxes by $4 billion. Raising taxes on businesses that are struggling to bring back workers and scale back up after a year of economic devastation was obviously wrong. And while people of all political stripes want to ensure that wealthy residents pay their fair share, what Majority members don’t seem to grasp is that, in New York state, they already were. The top 1% of earners were already supplying 44% of the state’s income tax revenue, to say nothing of their property and sales tax contributions. These are people who can decide to leave at the drop of a hat, taking huge chunks of revenue and jobs with them. There’s a difference between catering to the wealthy and acknowledging that wealthy people are not stupid and respond to incentives like all other human beings.

The decision to raise taxes and frustrate our economic recovery is even more galling when you consider that our state received $12.5 billion in unrestricted aid from the federal government. We could’ve used last year’s budget as a framework and come up with a responsible plan that balanced the needs of taxpayers and job creators, all while using the massive influx of federal aid to power a robust COVID-19 recovery effort centered around our small business owners, non-profits, healthcare systems and schools.