For many New Yorkers, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address felt less like a progress report and more like an SOS — a distress signal from a state buckling under the crushing weight of an affordability crisis.
Responses to my recent constituent survey told the same sad story: New York has become wildly unaffordable for almost everyone. Over and over, respondents complained about soaring housing costs, escalating school taxes, over-the-top utility bills and the never-ending list of state fees as the reasons they’re falling behind.
Yet our detached governor spoke about this crisis as though it mysteriously fell from thin air — an economic disaster with no one to blame, rather than the result of years of poor policy decisions made by her administration and Albany Democrats. What’s worse, her so-called “solutions” actually double down on those bad ideas. Her latest proposals would pile on more costs while conveniently sidestepping her very policies that make everyday life here so expensive to begin with.
I read these surveys and could feel the frustration. New Yorkers are at a breaking point. Rising costs are pushing families to the edge, and the anxiety is real, widespread and impossible to ignore.
Unfortunately, Hochul is engaging in a high-stakes shell game, shuffling the financial burden from one group of residents to another. Some get a giveaway, and everyone else gets the bill.
Take her child care proposal. Under the current plan, the state would fully fund the first two years of New York City’s child care program for 2-year-olds and expand funding for the city’s 3-K program, while families across the rest of the state get nothing. That doesn’t fix affordability statewide. It tilts the scales toward the city and forces families from Buffalo to Brookhaven to pay for benefits their children will never see.
The state plays the same charade with its energy policies. Keeping the gas tax in place while eliminating the sales tax on electric-vehicle charging helps just a narrow sliver of New Yorkers. Millions of drivers who rely on gas-powered vehicles get no relief at all, and are somehow stuck subsidizing tax breaks for vehicles they don’t own. How is that fair?
What is glaringly absent is any proposal to lower taxes and energy costs for all New Yorkers. We could start by rolling back costly green energy mandates and eliminating the energy delivery fees and taxes that drive up utility bills. That would be an equitable first step that delivers the greatest benefit to the most New Yorkers, but it would also ruffle some special-interest feathers.
And even when viable solutions are within reach, they are intentionally stalled for far too long. Take for example the much-heralded no-tax-on-tips. While I’m glad Hochul embraced the idea, I proposed this common-sense bill 16 months ago, because our service-industry workers needed immediate, tangible relief. If it’s good policy now, why wasn’t it good policy then? What took so long?
You get the playbook by now. Dump the burden on middle-class households and ask them to pay more to prop up state-funded programs that offer them nothing in return. Tell taxpayers it’s to save the planet, erase traffic or cure the common cold, and then vilify anyone who dares to complain.
For New Yorkers, it’s death by a thousand cuts. It’s not one bill that breaks a family budget, but the dozens that pile up month after month: utility fees and delivery charges; auto and homeowners’ insurance hikes; fare hikes on the Long Island Rail Road; higher subway and bus fares; rising bridge and tunnel tolls; congestion pricing in Manhattan; DMV vehicle and registration fees; and permits and licensing fees for small businesses.
And don’t forget that every vendor, contractor and business has to charge you more because the state is charging them more. Unfortunately, it appears we’re all on the governor’s hamster wheel together, and you can’t get off unless you move to another state — and New Yorkers are moving out of state in historic numbers.
We’re not asking for a handout — we’re demanding a fair shot, free from the bureaucracy that makes everyday life so expensive. If Hochul wants to talk about affordability, it can’t just be lip service. It means getting government out of the way. Real reform means lower monthly bills, higher paychecks and enough breathing room to cover life’s basics. Because for countless families across New York, there’s no wiggle room. They’re already at the breaking point.
Jack Martins represents the 7th State Senate District.
