Anything that makes Andrew Cuomo squeal is just fine by me.
There’s a call by upstate House Republicans (with the exception of John Katko) to amend the Obamacare replacement in a way that would require New York State to pay its share of Medicaid instead of forcing it down on the counties.
Across America, in almost every state, the state itself pays for its share of Medicaid; that’s the concept of the program as originally passed by the federal government.
But in New York, the state government decided to pass the cost onto residents by forcing counties to impose property taxes to fund it.
This is the largest single cause of the suffocating property tax burden us Upstaters have to deal with, and it is flat out astounding how deeply we are gouged by this arrangement.
The amendment put on the Obamacare replacement bill is set to be voted on tomorrow, and it mandates that in order to continue receiving Medicaid reimbursement from the federal government, states must pay the bills out of their own treasury and not the counties’.
This would free up tens of millions of dollars for every county in this region…and it would also make Andy Cuomo squeal, like the stuck hog he is, as he loses the power associated with that amount of money.
County governments gain dramatically more financial flexibility, taxpayers realize incredible relief from those onerous property taxes, and Cuomo wails as he loses one of his favorite instruments of oppression.
That’s a win-win-win in my book.