Last night (after the gridlock was broken) the NYS Senate voted to raise the NYC Sales tax by .5%, an almost 6% increase to the new rate of 8.875%.

 The vote was 43 to 19 with many Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with the Democrats to raise the sales tax.

 Sen. Ruben Diaz apparently got up on the Senate floor and beg the Republicans for almost an hour to join with him to defeat the tax hike.  Democrats Sen.. Hiram Monerrate and Kevin Parker also voted against the tax hike.

 So this was a bill the Republicans easily could have killed.

 In my opinion this was a HUGE missed opportunity for them. After a month of chaos the 1st thing Republicans in the Senate do when the leadership is settled is join with the Democrats to raise taxes.

 If the Republicans stood strong and voted against the tax hike it could have shown that the coup was about more than just patronage. That Republicans in the New York State Senate actually stand for something other than getting more members items and patronage jobs for their staff.

Voting down the 6% sales tax hike would have been front page news and sent the message that Republicans in New York are against higher taxes and that they cannot be pushed around just because the Democrats now have 32 votes.

 Without the sales tax hike Mayor Bloomberg was on his way to doing the right thing for New York, CUT SPENDING. He was implementing a hiring freeze and looking to suspend the  pork barrel member items.

 Instead it will be business as usual. Gouging taxpayers to pay for the same old mess.

Thank you Sen. Skelos for showing us you have no principles and are nothing but a tax and spend patronage whore like the rest of them.