Hometown News: Albany Budget Agreement

Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver say an agreement to close the largest budget gap in State history includes a new tax rate of nearly eight percent for those making over 300-thousand dollars and a nearly nine percent rate for folks making more than half-a-million dollars. There's mixed reaction to the rich paying a bigger price. The tax hikes, which are expected to bring in about four billion dollars, would expire in three years assuming the economy recovers. Also under the plan, state education funding would remain flat, state college tuition would go up and New York's bottle law would include a nickel deposit on bottled water.