From the folks who brought you New York's "millionaire tax," it's ... another millionaire tax. And a stock transfer tax. And a 50 percent Is this a great state, or what? Read More
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The city of White Plains is the latest example of how arbitration can produce bloated and unaffordable labor contracts. The twist, in the case of White Plains, is that the unaffordable arbitration award reportedly was recommended by the city's for Read More
State and local governments continue to use structured finance to obscure bad fiscal decisions. Today's case: Louisiana's convoluted proposed subsidy structure for the New Orleans Saints. The pending deal shows that conservative Republican Bobby Jind Read More
New York--despite facing a $55 billion liability--is one of 20 states that has set aside absolutely nothing to pay for the growing cost of health insurance for retired public employees, according to a national report. The by the Pew Center on t Read More
New York state employees, unlike those in the private sector, have been largely untouched by the recession. State workers elsewhere have faced layoffs, benefit cuts and unpaid furloughs to help close massive budget gaps, as I point out in an op-ed Read More
The Drum Major Institute's John Petro has a in today's Daily News calling for New York to implement congestion pricing to fix New York's transit problem. "We need a long-term solution that ... creates a permanent, steady source of revenue," Read More
Don't expect the president of the Albany Police Officers Union to win any community relations awards, especially from the city's beleaguered taxpayers. During an interview with WRGB-TV, Chris Mesley made no effort to sugarcoat demands for police p Read More
Encima Global president -- and economist -- David Malpass has some incisive up on the firm's website that relate well to municipal finance and "too big to fail." Slide #16 shows the growth in state and local government spending as a percentage o Read More
E.J. and I have a in today's Post on the MTA's quickly deteriorating finances. Especially disturbing is the MTA's recent reliance on short-term borrowing to cover its operating costs (in other words, paying millions to Wall Street banks in financin Read More
Australia's Macquarie, responsible for some of the biggest road-infrastructure "private-public partnerships" of the early and mid-2000s, may pull the plug on its stake in one ambitious investment, the South Bay Expressway in San Diego. TOLLROADSne Read More
Westchester County employees have no reason to complain about the high cost of their health insurance--$7,992 for individuals and approximately $22,000 for families, because they pay nothing for it--unless they are property taxpayers. County Execu Read More
A Democratic state lawmaker from Buffalo is urging U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer to oppose President Obama's proposed tax on financial institutions. Assemblyman Sam Hoyt says he believes the tax, which Obama calls a "Financial Crisis Responsibility Fe Read More