Newly revised data from the state Labor Department indicate New York's regional economic performance gap has grown larger in the last year. On a year-to-year basis, the state gained 103,900 private-sector jobs in January—a growth rate of 1.3 percent at a time when the U.S. as a whole was growing by 2.1 percent, according to the state Labor Department's monthly jobs report. Read More
As the budget process moves into higher gear, Governor Cuomo's "serious as a heart attack" revenue shortfall has turned into something more like angina—but financial risks are mounting along with projected future budget gaps. Read More
Star ratings for New York hospitals went from bad to worse in a newly updated Hospital Compare report card from the federal government. Read More
Barely one in five private construction workers in New York State was covered by a union contract last year, according to newly released statistics that call into question a state public works "prevailing wage" mandate that assumes 30 percent union coverage of building trades occupations across New York. Read More
Requiring New York health plans to cover in vitro fertilization would add up to 1.1 percent to premiums, according to a state study belatedly released today. Read More
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is setting herself apart from many "Medicare for All" supporters by offering what sounds like a plan to pay for it. Unfortunately, the revenue source she keeps citing – a 4 percent tax on income – would fall short of what's needed by at least $1 trillion, and more likely $2 trillion, per year. Read More
The collapse of New York's effort to lure Amazon's "second headquarters" to Queens with more than $3 billion in city and state incentives sheds fresh light on a bigger, ongoing corporate subsidy—New York State's Film and TV Production Credit. Read More
Some of the heated attacks on Governor Cuomo's Medicaid cuts, including a claim that tens of thousands of jobs would be lost, should be taken with a grain of salt. Read More
Government unions aren’t letting the facts get in the way of their opposition to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s push for a permanent property tax cap. Testifying in Albany this month on Cuomo’s FY20 Executive Budget, union leaders made a number of misrepresentations regarding the cap, which since 2011 has slowed the growth of property taxes outside New York City. Read More
State Sen. Julia Salazar, a democratic socialist from Brooklyn, is backing an idea that could appeal to limited-government conservatives across New York. The first-term legislator has introduced legislation (S.3061) establishing a multi-state compact that would bar member states from offering any "company-specific subsidy." Read More
New revisions to a proposed single-payer health plan for New York State would add tens of billions dollars to the already enormous price tag – and further hinder the state's ability to control costs going forward. Read More
Governor Cuomo has announced he's flying to Washington on Tuesday to meet with President Trump to discuss the impact on New York of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap in the new federal tax law. Spoiler Alert: even assuming Trump is uncharacteristically thick-skinned in the face of Cuomo's harsh unrelenting political attacks, the SALT cap isn't going anywhere. Read More