The budget agreement also raises the corporate franchise tax rate to 7.25% from 6.5% for three years.

“The tax increases simply are unnecessary and economically risky,” said Andrew Rein of the Citizens Budget Commission. Using temporary federal funds to support recurring spending sets the stage for future budget cuts or tax increases when the federal aid is exhausted, he said.

Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, called the planned tax hikes “economically risky and fiscally unnecessary” as the state has received $12.6 billion in cash from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID response plan that Schumer has said is enough to balance the budget.

“The simple truth is we have $22 billion more than the state expected when the budget was proposed in January — $22 billion over the next two years,” he said, according to the New York Post. “That’s almost $1 billion a month.”

Meanwhile, the Citizens Budget Commission raised alarms over the new tax increase, calling it “unnecessary and economically risky.” The group also expressed concern about New York intends to spend the bounty of federal cash.

“Unfortunately, the state’s leaders did not appropriately leverage the opportunity provided by the infusion of funds to stabilize New York’s fiscal picture and maintain its economic competitiveness, which would best sustain the State’s ability to help all New Yorkers over time,” said CBC President Andrew Rein.

The budget raises an additional $4.3 billion taxes on corporate and individual taxpayers, even though there is a great deal of question over whether revenue enhancements were needed. The most recent stimulus package passed by Congress gave New York State an additional $12 billion in federal aid. Andrew Rein, president of the Citizen’s Budget Commission, said the state had an additional $22 billion in revenues than it expected in January and questioned the need for any revenue increases.

Citizens Budget Commission president Andrew Rein also accused lawmakers of failing to “appropriately leverage the opportunity provided by the infusion of funds” from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which earmarked $12.6 billion to bail out the state.

"The budget enacts tax increases for the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations making New York the highest taxed state in the nation which increases the chance that New Yorkers leave and take their tax dollars with them," said Andrew Rein of the Citizens Budget Commission.

Others noted that the state budget, expected to top $200 billion when all the details are disclosed, represents a substantial increase in state spending over the $178 billion authorized last year as the pandemic’s deadliest days neared.

“This budget is true to the state’s motto ‘Excelsior,’ whether it would be tax rates or spending, increases in both appear to be substantial,” added Andrew Rein president of the Citizens Budget Commission.

New York state and local government spending outpaces that of every state but Alaska, according to an analysis for THE CITY by the Volcker Alliance State Budget Team, a research group that tracks fiscal policy issues across the country. Per capita spending in 2018 totaled $18,789.

While roughly 150 hotels have shuttered in the past year because of the pandemic, the city’s tourism economy is expected to return to full strength in 2025. Hotels generate about $2.4 billion in direct tax revenue each year, with operators and customers paying property, sales and hotel occupancy taxes, according to the nonpartisan, nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission.

“I think you need a vibrant tourist sector for the city’s growth and recovery, so there could be valid concerns about constraining anything that could affect that segment,” said Ana Champeny, director of city studies at the CBC.

If the hotel special permit passes and dramatically slows hotel construction, “a room shortage is probably going to mean higher room rates,” she explained. “But fewer hotels also means fewer tourists. Job growth and economic growth are what you need.”

Her CBC colleague Sean Campion said that hotels and tourism would play an integral role in the city’s post-COVID recovery.

“People underestimate the extent to which visitation helped the city recover from the recession in the past decade,” Campion said. The number of visitors to the city “increased 36 percent over the past decade, to 66 million in 2019. To the extent that we want to bring back the pre-COVID economy, this is a significant piece.”

Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, called the planned tax hikes “economically risky and fiscally unnecessary” given the federal bailout and higher-than-expected tax receipts during the past fiscal year.

“The simple truth is we have $22 billion more than the state expected when the budget was proposed in January — $22 billion over the next two years,” he said.

“That’s almost $1 billion a month.”

Rein also said the tax plan made a mockery of the state’s official, Latin motto, “Excelsior.”

“I look at this as a budget worthy of our state motto … which means ‘upward’ — both on spending and on taxes,” he said.

And this isn’t about fiscal responsibility — this is about punishing the rich for being rich. The tax hikes aren’t even needed: The state will have “$22 billion more resources available over the next two years” than Gov. Cuomo expected when he rolled out his budget in January, Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein says. Those funds were “sufficient” to “reverse cuts, help those not supported by the American Rescue Plan, support educational needs from the pandemic and provide a glide path to fiscal stability.”

As more people already become less dependent on their central offices, the combination of state and city income taxes will heighten “the departure risk” of high earners who already support much of state spending, said Andrew Rein, president of the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission, a New York fiscal watchdog.

The proposed New York budget deal also includes $500 million in property tax relief intended for about 1.3 million New Yorkers who earn less than $250,000 a year, the person said.

Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog, said the state had $22 billion more available over the next two years than officials anticipated in January, and called the proposed tax increases “unnecessary and economically risky” at a time when the economic recovery is fragile.

“Unfortunately, the state’s leaders chose not to leverage the opportunity provided by strengthening tax revenues and massive federal aid to stabilize New York’s fiscal picture and maintain its economic competitiveness,” Mr. Rein said.