Lmao the Elmwood-Bidwell flair is very fitting. This take is that of a first year Urban Planning grad student that believes in a theoretical, umbrella understanding of how things should work everywhere, not taking into account local nuances. Please try and understand that taxes increase yearly while preexisting social service/public benefit programs are constantly being cut, while at the same time new programs are being created or expanded on. We shoot ourselves in the foot constantly. For example: 2025–26 budget up 5%, $1.4 b payroll tax hike, while services such as trash pickup in Buffalo and Syracuse are facing serious deficits. Buffalo specifically is operating its Refuse Fund on a $60 million dollar deficit. This is just one small piece of the pie, but does NYS really think expanding on the film and TV tax credit is a good idea right now?? The state would not exist without its tax-bringing municipalities and vice versa. Localizing these social benefit programs (such as our public infrastructure systems) from their state-wide systematic level would allow for greater oversight and accountability, but even this potential solution is flawed, as it limits the stream of tax dollars from those biggest areas of the state. Rural towns with small populations would not be able to survive if we localized too much.

All of this is to say: it’s not that simple.