80% of Life Is Showing Up

Woody Allen is credited with saying, "80% of life is showing up." Showing up on time, we think he meant. And that must explain the waves of self congratulation that swept Albany last week, and the wave from the editorial board bleachers.

However, we commented earlier on some of the well-known major substantive deficiencies in the budget. And now this:

Michael Rothfeld of Newsday explains an appalling under-the-radar bit of corporate welfare bile that was snuck in the back door:

A provision buried deep in the budget approved by the State Legislature on Thursday extends a tax break that was meant for poverty-stricken areas but in practice benefits some of New York City's most successful companies.

Those who stand to gain from the five-year extension include four companies run by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the heart of Times Square; along with Ernst & Young, the accounting firm with $14.5 billion in annual revenues; Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that employs more than 50,000 people; and Proskauer Rose, one of the nation's largest law firms.

Our good friend Frank Mauro at the Fiscal Policy Institute reminded us over the weekend how appalling this giveaway worth tens of millions of dollars is compared to Pataki's continuing effort to get the Legislature to go along with a SUNY and CUNY tuition increase.

We also note again that the aforementioned tax break comes simultaneously with the icnrease in the regressive sales tax borne most weightily by working class New Yorkers.

As Woody well knows, the other 20% counts too.

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p.s. Props to Good Jobs for New York for highlighting the giveaway to the media.