Unfortunately, Mr. Cuomo so far has been unwilling to combine the tax cap with meaningful local-mandate relief, especially public-sector collective-bargaining reforms that would give county executives, mayors and school boards more tools to live within the cap. Read More
Commentary
Major residential, commercial and industrial developments throughout the country are subject to an array of federal and state laws designed to protect the environment. They're buttressed nearly everywhere by local land-use regulations addressing the community impacts of such projects. Read More
Gov. Cuomo has just been handed a decidedly mixed bag of tax-reduction recommendations — combining pro-growth business-tax cuts with a gimmicky “property-tax relief” package that would deliver virtually no economic bang for the buck. Read More
Gov. Cuomo has OK’d a bill allowing suburban Rockland County to issue bonds to cover a portion of its huge budget deficit — without the customary mandate for a state takeover of the troubled county’s finances. In letting Rockland buy time with borrowed money, the governor is all but inviting New York’s other troubled counties and municipalities to push for similar treatment. Read More
A large majority of New York City residents think the non-Indian gambling casinos authorized by Proposal One on next week’s statewide ballot will bring in “significant new revenue for New York state and local governments,” according to a New York Times-Siena poll released Tuesday. Read More
Bill de Blasio seems poised to waltz into Gracie Mansion largely on the strength of his proposal for a soak-the-rich income tax hike. But the tax increase would need approval in Albany, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to position himself as a moderate tax-cutter for his 2014 re-election bid. So the governor is doing his best to discourage de Blasio, warning that a city tax increase would prompt wealthy New Yorkers to flee to Florida. Read More
There’s an obvious irony — not to mention an obvious political motive — in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s choice of his Republican predecessor, former Gov. George Pataki, to co-chair a Tax Relief Commission that’s supposed to recommend tax cuts for next year’s state budget. Read More
New York imposes the nation’s heaviest big-city tax burden — which, in turn, is a major component of the Big Apple’s notoriously high cost of living. Read More
By a variety of measures, New York is easily the nation's most heavily taxed big city. In devising a strategy for competing economically on both a global and regional basis, New York’s next mayor needs to recognize that the city can’t tax with impunity... Read More
Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned last week that if New York City fails to control unsustainable employee compensation costs, it could find itself trapped in the same "downward cycle" as bankrupt Detroit... Read More
No city in America can match New York’s broad array of taxes—more typical of a state than of a municipal government. Most New York City residents and businesses are subject to combined state and local tax rates far exceeding national norms. Such high taxes are a headwind against economic growth: they add to overhead, cut into profits, and make it costlier to employ people. Read More
Among the things New Yorkers will really need over the next four years is a city controller who’s willing to be a forceful and effective watchdog and advocate for taxpayers. Unfortunately, personal peccadilloes aside, Eliot Spitzer’s record as governor of New York raises serious questions of his suitability for this particular job. Read More