In budget awash in federal cash, child care and a tax break for the working poor will cost real state money down the road

Spending is tied to the politically and legally vulnerable capital gains tax

The combination of better-than-expected state tax revenue and the flood of federal stimulus money that we will henceforth refer to as Uncle Joe’s Pile Of Cash (UJPOC) helped majority Democrats in the Legislature fill their budget proposals with eye-popping numbers.

There’s $1.7 billion in UJPOC for school reopenings, $1.1 billion for vaccine deployment …