The multi-year tables in New York State’s just-released Enacted Budget Financial Plan for fiscal 2015 make continued use of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new fiscal conjuring device: a lump-sum, below-the-line reduction in future projected spending, based on the assumption that the governor will “propose, and negotiate with the Legislature to enact budgets that hold State Operating Funds spending growth to 2 percent.” Read More
The state Court of Appeals today ruled, 6-0, in favor of the Empire Center’s challenge of lower court decisions that allowed the New York State and New York City Teachers Retirement Systems (NYSTRS and NYCTRS, respectively) to keep secret the names of retired employees receiving pensions. See the full opinion by Judge Robert Smith here. Read More
New York’s newly enacted state budget includes what looks like the biggest, juiciest capital pork pie Albany has cooked up since before the Great Recession. The State and Municipal Facilities Program first popped out of the budget oven last year in the form of a $385 million appropriation, of which $26.65 million was spent. Read More
Last week, at a Manhattan news conference that was also “live-streamed” on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s website, the chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the president of Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) reflecting a tentative contract deal that will shape the MTA’s labor compensation costs for years to come. Read More
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, has been named by Governor Cuomo to a commission “charged with advising the State on how to best invest the Governor’s proposed $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act in order to enhance teaching and learning through technology,” as announced by the governor’s office today.* Read More
Job growth in the Empire State trailed the nation once again in March. New York’s 12-month increase in payroll jobs was 1.5 percent, compared to a 2 percent growth rate throughout the U.S, according to the state Department of Labor (DoL). Read More
New York has earned a poor grade on yet another ranking of state tax climates — this one issued by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship (SBE) Council, a research and advocacy group based in Virginia... Read More
The Tax Foundation, which ranked New York dead last on its latest annual State Business Tax Climate Index, today issued a highly complimentary analysis of the corporate tax reduction and reforms enacted as part of 2014-15 New York State budget... Read More
New York State’s relative economic performance wasn’t so hot in the recent past — but its outlook for the future is worse, according to the just-released 7th Annual Rich States, Poor States report, an economic competitiveness index produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Read More
By midnight on April 15, more than 8.5 million personal income tax returns for 2013 will have been filed with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Roughly one-third of those filers will owe nothing, and big chunk of total PIT receipts will come from a tiny fraction of high-income taxpayers. Read More
New York perennially lands at or near the bottom of state rankings based heavily on measures of government spending, taxes and regulatory burdens. However, taking account of other factors that play more to New York’s strengths, the Empire State’s ranking soared to 26th in the 13th Annual State Competitiveness Report... Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling New York’s newly enacted budget a “Grand Slam.” But while the fiscal 2014-15 spending plan enacted last week certainly can’t be written off as the worst swing and miss ever, it’s far from a base-clearing, walk-off home run. Read More