The Club for Growth is one of the best fact-checkers around for fiscal conservatives...
"We want to set the record straight," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "As mayor of New York, Bloomberg presided over huge increases in spending, multiple tax increases, and whole new levels of government intrusion on individuals and businesses."
He was referring to Bloomberg approving an 18.5 percent property tax hike and income- and sales-tax increases to deal with a budget gap left by his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, following an economic slowdown and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bloomberg also more than doubled taxes on cigarettes and banned smoking in bars and restaurants, which the Club for Growth opposed as nannyism. The mayor has said the measures led to a 20 percent reduction in smoking.
Toomey said the numbers show that annual spending increased more under Bloomberg than Giuliani or David Dinkins.
City spending shot up 40 percent over his first five years as mayor, or more than double the 17 percent inflation rate over that period, according to a study by Manhattan Institute senior fellow Nicole Gelinas.
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