More money for us

Albany Catholic notes that two of our recommendations have been taken up by the administration of Governor Eliot Spitzer. (Whether we can take credit is questionable, at best.)

Long-time readers of this blog know that we have advocated the hiring of more tax auditors as one way of increasing state revenues without raising taxes. Another method we have promoted is greater oversight of New York’s bloated Medicaid program. Now we can report that action has taken place on both fronts. First, today’s Times Union reports:

The state budget contains $5.5 million to hire auditors at the Department of Taxation & Finance with the expectation the beefed up audit team will produce $250 million in additional tax revenues.

In other news, Governor Spitzer announced the nomination of James G. Sheehan to serve as New York State Medicaid Inspector General to oversee the fraud and abuse enforcement activities of New York’s $50 billion Medicaid program.

The news release announcing the nomination reports that Mr. Sheehan has been successful in recovering millions of dollars for taxpayers in his previous government positions, including more than $1 billion (yes, $1 Billion) in just three cases.

As we have said in the past, rather than raising taxes to pay for government programs, efforts should be made to collect what already is owed.