Most New Yorkers intuitively know their state is in the "danger zone," as the Citizens

Budget Commission puts it. But they may not know that the state's skyscraper debt load is one

of the main reasons.

A new report by the Citizens Budget Commission cites figures that show only three states ...

New Jersey, Hawaii and West Virginia ... carry a higher debt burden than New York, measured by a ratio of debt to resources. But New York's debt is high however you measure it. It's the

second-highest total figure in the country, after California. It's the fifth-highest when

measured as a share of personal income and fifth-highest when calculated per capita.

Regardless of how you parse it, it's hard to quibble with the commission's conclusion: New

York can't handle more debt.

The report is timely, because adding more debt is precisely what New York is considering as

it contends with a severe economic contraction that has stanched its flow of revenue. Because

New York has spent, taxed and borrowed irresponsibly in the past, it says it has to borrow ...

and, no doubt, tax and spend ... irresponsibly now. To contend with an ever-deepening budget

deficit ... currently estimated at $9.1 billion ... Albany wants to make matters worse. It's

classic. That's why many New York citizens say the State Legislature is both irresponsible and

incompetent.

According to the Budget Commission's analysis, New York is in the danger zone because it

has "more debt than is affordable given interstate competitive pressures to keep tax

burdens within competitive bounds." With the nation's highest overall tax burden, New York

fails that test at the threshold.

Specifically, the report notes that New Yorkers pay about $5.6 billion yearly in debt

service, and in four years that cost will rise to more than $7.7 billion, equal to $1 out of

every $10 paid in taxes. Ten percent of our taxes will do nothing for us beyond paying for

Albany's addition to debt.

In order to fall out of the danger zone, the report says, New York would have to reduce its

long-term liabilities by $20.4 billion below the 2008 level of $120 billion. Yet, New York

wants to borrow more.

The only good news in this mess, and it's not all that good, is that Lt. Gov. Richard

Ravitch has proposed a five-year financial rescue plan that would require significant spending

reductions, institute an advisory financial review board and force lawmakers and the governor

to explain how they will pay for new spending when they are approved. But it also calls for $6

billion in additional borrowing over the next three years to facilitate "mitigating cuts," in

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's words.

The plan requires legislative approval, but would allow the state to sell bonds to cover

operating expenses for the coming budget year, which begins April 1.

It's not the worst idea ever to come out of Albany, though as New Yorkers know, state

legislators have a rich history of failing to abide by the restrictions they place on

themselves. If this plan is going to be pursued, it needs to be tied down tightly. A State

Legislature that cannot restrain itself needs to be left with no wiggle room.