Well, Patterson must have seen that i had a couple bucks left in my pocket.

[ejpoeta]

So, David Patterson has decided that we need to pay even MORE!!! We are barely getting by, hanging on by a thread and he is going to get rid of the star exemption, raise fees on motor vehicles, and on and on it goes. It is infuriating to say the least!! How are we going to be able to afford to continue living in NY!! I mean, my husband isn't getting a raise this year, nor a bonus. We had to switch our health insurance because it went up $100 a month more. So we signed the kids up for child health plus and we put ourselves on a high deductible insurance that would save us half of our insurance costs. Just hope to god that we don't have anything happen now.

It's insane. We are better off than a lot of other people around here, and we are struggling! I mean, I am a stay at home mom. We have our car loan for our vehicle that we just got in like april (our first new car EVER) and we have a house loan and a wood burner loan. now, we had intended to pay off the one loan at tax time, but now will we be able to because we pay our taxes with our returns. so if there is no star exemption, is that for THIS tax season? it's mind boggling.

i know i am making no sense, but I am sure a lot of others out there are feeling the same way. I mean, to avoid 'raising taxes', we have assessors raising our assessment on our houses to raise our taxes instead. We have discussed moving out of state before, but now I fear we may have to discuss it more seriously. I don't want to move. I like where I live. But it's like our state government wants to run everyone out of the state!!

I was born in rochester. I have lived in WNY all but 1 and a half years of it. I had my two girls in the same local hospital. I have worked here, buried my mother here, and spent my greatest moments in this state. And now.... when our communal walls of economic well being are crumbling down around many families around me, our governor seeks to increase that pressure. to add more bricks to our backs. yes, let's just make life a little harder for those of us who are struggling as it is. sometimes i wonder if this state knows how to do anything else.

ok. i guess i'll stop my ranting now. I understand the reasoning. but I don't see how this won't just tip the boat over altogether.

[Muttocracy]

1. I think part of the STAR program will still be there but reduced but I hear you

I thought the whole thing was gone at first but then I read somewhere that the exemption part is still there but the rebate check will be gone. Guess they meant it when they used the gimmicks instead of actually reducing taxes. I guess they can take the rest of the STAR program away too. I thought I was moving toward being able to buy a house here some day, but the property taxes are one of the biggest barriers.

I'd like to see the top 0.5% of New Yorkers pay a hell of a lot more rather than so many little fees and taxes and program cuts. There are some programs I'll be glad to see go, but a lot of them are jobs too.

The nickel and diming (DMV fees) seems to hurt the poorest NYers the most :(

[Exilednight]

2. I live in the City, and the fact of the matter is that we have a huge budget gap .......

and I'm going to be hit pretty hard this tax season, but I understand the reason why. It's either pay for the many social services that are provided by the state, or cut their funding.

I am more than willing to sacrifice what little I have now in order to pay for the future.