An outside analysis of New York’s spending on prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients raises questions about how the Cuomo administration is enforcing a newly enacted cap on those costs. Read More
Blog
Now that the feds have limited the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for individuals, should New York's no-longer-fully-deductible personal income tax (PIT) be converted into an employer payroll tax? Read More
New York homeowners lining up to prepay property taxes in order to reduce their federal income taxes will also be in line for a temporary added cut in their 2017 state personal income tax. As a result, however, the prepayment phenomenon will also at least slightly erode the state government's already sagging income tax receipts in the current fiscal year—while making many of the same homeowners liable for at least a small tax hike in 2018.The rush to prepay local property taxes before the end of 2017, encouraged by Governor Cuomo in reaction to federal reform, will have some unintended consequences. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo is ending the year on a strong pro-taxpayer note, vetoing union-backed legislation that would have blocked the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority from imposing pay freezes to balance the county budget. Read More
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a report about Medicaid in which New York’s costs are substantially lower than the national average. Read More
The demise of the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” – which is due to be repealed as part of the GOP tax overhaul – may be less consequential in New York than in most other states. Read More
For the millionaire earners who generate an outsized share of New York State's income tax receipts, a possible congressional deal to trim the top tax rate in the final federal tax reform bill would take some of the sting out of losing the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Read More
The lame-duck supervisor of Hempstead, New York’s largest town, has inked the most indefensible no-layoff deal in Long Island’s history of open-handed labor relations—guaranteeing union jobs while asking for nothing in return. Read More
For all the taxes that Congress is aiming to cut, one has surprisingly dodged the ax so far: the $14.3 billion “Health Insurance Tax,” or HIT. Read More
Federal officials have reportedly confirmed that they are cutting off a major portion of funding for New York’s Essential Plan, opening a roughly $1 billion hole in the state budget and raising new doubts about the future of a rapidly growing health insurance option for the working poor. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill mandating broad insurance coverage for three-dimensional mammography, formally known as digital breast tomosynthesis, despite a lack of evidence about the long-term efficacy of the procedure. Read More
New York's second largest public pension fund continues to move—at a glacial pace—towards a more reasonable and prudent assumption of its future investment earnings. Read More