Let us pause from our regular diet of political hijinks and consider our purses. It turns out that the Obama/Trump economic recovery is producing large increases in government tax revenues. We can argue about who gets credit, and which of our private citizens are reaping economic benefits, but state and local government are doing just fine, thank you.

The revenue increases are coming from both regressive and progressive taxes. Local governments and the state are seeing big increases in sales tax revenues. Chemung County, for example, saw an annual increase of 3.5 per cent in 2017, and an additional increase of 6.5 percent in the first three months of 2018. State revenues are on a similar track.

This is obvious good news for beleaguered counties, cities and towns that otherwise rely on the even more regressive property tax. It also eases pressures on state government, which uses the more progressive income tax as its primary revenue source.

And there is even better news on the horizon. Legalized marijuana and sports betting are likely to produce significant new revenues. We're doing something right. Believe it or not, this problem is evidence that state and local governments have done a fairly good job managing expenditures and revenues. Shocking.

So what do we do with all this cash?

The first thing is to talk about it. In a political season noted for unceasing peccadilloes and accusations, it would be a nice change for our leadership to talk about where this is taking us.

In the absence of such conversation, here are some ideas.

Pay down debt: We've been borrowing for operating programs, a horrendous and immoral practice. Use some of the cash to end such borrowing forever.

Invest in infrastructure: Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced project after project without identifying where he's going to get the money. Let's identify specific projects and get them going.

Reduce property taxes: Sky-high property taxes are an economic drag and a social problem, especially in suburbs and upstate.

Invest in schools, hospitals, and the work of state government: We've starved the state workforce, endangered hospitals, and not increased education spending enough. We can return to a decent level of services.

The trick is to do all four. As something of a progressive warhorse, I think increased investment in programs and hardware is a good thing. So is ending borrowing for programs, and limiting property taxes. There's enough to justify a principled, four-pronged program.

There are certainly other ideas worth discussing and no shortage of special interests and public-spirited citizens with good ideas. What we need is for someone begin the debate. The Democratic gubernatorial primary between Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon and the ensuing general election in which one of them will likely face Republican Marc Molinaro ought to be the forum for figuring out how to handle this. So far we've gotten only silence from the candidates.

So, Andy, Cynthia and Marc: What's your proposal?

Richard Brodsky is a former state Assembly member.