Long Island GOP lawmakers hit fee hikes in Andrew Cuomo budget

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has nearly $1 billion in “revenue raisers” in his 2018-2019 proposed budget, new and increased fees that some Republican legislators from Long Island said were akin to new taxes.

Cuomo proposed the fees and charges as part of a plan to close a budget deficit estimated at $1.8 billion if state government stays within a self-imposed 2 percent spending-growth cap. The gap would be $4.4 billion if the cap is breached, which Cuomo said is unlikely.

The proposed new revenues include $750 million from allowing nonprofit health insurers to become for-profit and an $8 fee for a new online “pre-licensing” course for beginner drivers.

Others include a $120 safety inspection fee for private for-profit car services and passenger carriers; a broader tax on e-cigarette and vaping products at the distributor level; a surcharge on opioid prescriptions; an incentive for vending machines to go cashless and an extension of sales tax collections on online sales.

“It’s hitting people on all levels,” Assemb. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) said. “There seems to be no end to their creativity in finding ways to hammer New Yorkers.”

Murray and other lawmakers said Cuomo’s budget should have cut more spending — but he conceded it’s a re-election year for the governor.

“We have a spending problem,” Assemb. David McDonough (R-Merrick) said. “We can’t keep doing fees. Fees are another word for taxes.”

Cuomo said the only alternatives to increased fees and surcharges are reductions in education and health care spending.

“It’s just too big a deficit and the choice of cutting education or cutting health care, I don’t think is a place anyone wants to go this year,” Cuomo said in his budget address Tuesday. “So we have to raise revenue.”

Some of Cuomo’s proposals, including the opioid surcharge and vaping taxes, would apply to manufacturers or businesses. It’s unclear how they might be passed on to consumers.

Assemb. Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont) said proceeds from the opioid surcharge, estimated to generate $127 million in fiscal year 2019, would go toward fighting the state’s heroin epidemic.

“Of course they’re going to trickle down but at the end of the day some of that money is going to go to combat the opioid crisis,” Solages said.

Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said the vaping and opioid surcharges are aimed at deterring use of the products.

“We have to make tough choices and that’s going to require driving revenue, hopefully from sources that can help better our society,” Kaminsky said.

With Yancey Roy