SINCE GOV. PATTERSON FOUND OUT TAX ON SODA WONT FLY! HE NOW PROPOSES TO SELL WINE IN GROCERY STORES! SURE! MAKE OUR KIDS WINOS NOW!

ALBANY - Soda's out and wine's in.
Gov. Paterson scrapped a controversial penny-per-ounce tax on soda from his nuclear option emergency budget bill unveiled Friday.

Instead, he proposed selling wine in grocery stores - an idea lawmakers long have rejected.

The push to bring Chardonnay to the shelves could generate $150 million in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state, Paterson officials said.

It's one of a host of revenue raisers and tax hikes Paterson tucked into his spending plan to close a $9.2 billion budget gap.

Paterson also did away with so-called member items, the pork-barrel spending projects lawmakers love to dole out back home.

The moves set the stage for a dramatic final showdown Monday with the Legislature.

Paterson gave lawmakers the weekend to reach a final budget deal with him, or Paterson will force them to vote on his bill to close out the budget - now 87 days late.

If the Legislature fails on its plan and rejects Paterson's proposal, government agencies will begin shutting down at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

"New Yorkers are entitled to a final budget and they will get it on Monday, just as I promised," Paterson said.

The governor's plan:

Slashes $1.2 billion in state education aid, with the city losing out on 3%, receiving $8 billion.
Imposes a 4% sales tax on online hotel reservations and all clothing purchases.
Authorizes SUNY and CUNY to hike their tuition by as much as 8%.
Caps property tax increases at 4%.
Guts another $250 million from state agency funding.
Legalizes wildly popular mixed martial arts in a bid to raise more than $2 million.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Democratic chief John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) powwowed with Paterson last night in the governor's Manhattan office.

"Compromise is the key word - compromise," Silver said after the hour-long chat.

"We're all serious, the two of us and the governor, about getting this done as quickly as we can early next week," added Silver, who said aides would be working feverishly all weekend.

Assembly Democrats vehemently oppose the SUNY and CUNY plan to set their own tuition and the property tax cap.

To cushion the tuition increases, Paterson proposed more student financial aid.

Even with all the cuts and taxes, the overall budget likely would end up at $136 billion, a 3% increase over the last fiscal year.

To date, about 70% of the permanent budget - including a $1.60-per-pack hike in the cigarette excise tax - has been adopted through Paterson's weekly budget extenders designed to keep the state running.

Paterson said Friday there is still time in the next two days for a compromise.

"However, while the door remains open for negotiation, it will not be on Albany time, where deadlines only exist to be extended or ignored," he said.