Northeast Budget and Tax Committee

[bore]

It seems that recovering from Sandy will cost 50 billion dollars, now obviously some of that will come from the private sector, and some more from the federal government, but still pending correction from the gm that will be a hefty amount. It might be a good idea to allocate a percentage of the surplus every year into a natural disasters fund, for events like Irene and Sandy, which would not be touched at any other time.

Another suggestion I have is a change from a tax by curb weight to one on fuel efficency, that change can be adjusted to be revenue neutral, but most importantly it would help us fight global warming.

[bore]

It seems that recovering from Sandy will cost 50 billion dollars, now obviously some of that will come from the private sector, and some more from the federal government, but still pending correction from the gm that will be a hefty amount. It might be a good idea to allocate a percentage of the surplus every year into a natural disasters fund, for events like Irene and Sandy, which would not be touched at any other time.

Another suggestion I have is a change from a tax by curb weight to one on fuel efficency, that change can be adjusted to be revenue neutral, but most importantly it would help us fight global warming.

Would you consider 25% from the remaining surplus to be a good starting point?  We are going to have to spend on disaster relief, but it's nice to always have some money aside for the future.

25% would be a good. Also I take it the surplus is 7.5 billion instead of 11.5 billion, so,, were the new capital amendment to pass, how far would 3.75 billion go?

[bore]

It seems that recovering from Sandy will cost 50 billion dollars, now obviously some of that will come from the private sector, and some more from the federal government, but still pending correction from the gm that will be a hefty amount. It might be a good idea to allocate a percentage of the surplus every year into a natural disasters fund, for events like Irene and Sandy, which would not be touched at any other time.

Another suggestion I have is a change from a tax by curb weight to one on fuel efficency, that change can be adjusted to be revenue neutral, but most importantly it would help us fight global warming.

Would you consider 25% from the remaining surplus to be a good starting point?  We are going to have to spend on disaster relief, but it's nice to always have some money aside for the future.

25% would be a good. Also I take it the surplus is 7.5 billion instead of 11.5 billion, so,, were the new capital amendment to pass, how far would 3.75 billion go?

Why do you say the surplus is $7.5 billion?

If Sandy is expected to cost $50 billion to recover from 3.75 billion is a very modest start.  Hopefully, the Federal government can have a role in helping the Region recover.

We've increased expenditure by 4 billion and our tax changes should be revenue neutral or at least equal, since the last surplus was 11.5 billion I just took 4 from it. It might make sense to look over at other natural disasters to see what the normal proportion the region has to pay is. I was thinking of a more long term, rainy day natural disaster fund.