Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. If you weren’t sure whether NYC had the highest tax burden in the nation, Mayor Bloomberg is about to remove all doubt. He’s about to call for another increase in the sales tax, bringing the rate to 8.75% (from 8.375). Throw in tax (or he’ll call it a fee) on plastic bags and I’m sure that local businesses will love that as business goes across the Hudson to New Jersey where Jersey City has an enterprise zone where sales tax is 3.5%. That’s on top of reports that the City’s economy shrank significantly in 4Q 2008.

Property tax rebates to help lessen the burden on homeowners would be yanked.

Combine tax hikes with a slowing economy is a recipe for disaster, and yet that is what the supposed financial guru Bloomberg is about to achieve.

Bloomberg also throws out the claim that he will chop teachers and police jobs, but that’s just a threat to make sure that the tax hikes go through. There’s plenty of pork in the NYC budget that isn’t addressed, let alone those programs that should have been shuttered years ago but still receive funding. Tax and spend nanny staters (tax on soft drinks still being considered in the state).