The financial meltdown will have enormous consequences for taxpayers across the country -- but nowhere more so than in New York. That's because the Empire State has become excessively dependent on tax revenues generated by a Wall Street that no longer exists.
Spending by New York's state and local governments -- including long-term contracts with well-compensated public-sector union workers -- has risen to levels that simply cannot be sustained. As a result, the state is rapidly depleting surplus funds from the boom years while heading into a multi-billion-dollar budgetary abyss.
This page features web links to the latest articles and reports analyzing the fiscal issue by the Empire Center and the Manhattan Institute. For daily postings on the economy and the fiscal crisis, see
www.nyfiscalwatch.com.
Gov's Brave Talk
by E.J. McMahon, New York Post, Nov. 13, 2008
New York State's Fiscal Reckoning, City Journal, Fall 2008
The financial-market implosion and the coming
transformation of the securities industry will expose the fundamental
flaw in New York State’s woefully overextended public finance model.
The state budget is today geared to run on an ever-expanding stream of
high-octane revenues from a Wall Street that no longer exists—and the
rest of New York’s economy isn’t nearly robust enough to make up the
difference.
E.J. McMahon Interview with John Gambling on WOR-AM
Oct. 21, 2008
Income Tax Idiocy: NYC Mulls Hikes in Downturn
by E.J. McMahon, New York Post, Oct. 20, 2008
Gold-Plated Pensions: Don't Buy City Unions' Cries
by E.J. McMahon, New York Post, Oct. 8, 2008
If You're Voting With Your Pocketbook Proceed With Caution
by E.J. McMahon, New York Daily News, Sept. 16, 2008
