A bid to gut Cuomo’s tax cap The passage of a 2 percent cap on local property-tax growth in New York should have been the crowning achievement of Gov. Cuomo’s first legislative session -- complementing an austere budget to set a more fiscally responsible tone for the Empire State. Read More
Commentary
With less than two weeks to go before the start of New York City’s 2012 fiscal year, Mayor Bloomberg insists he must eliminate 6,100 teaching positions and close 20 fire companies to balance the next city budget. Read More
In his opening message to the Legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out that public-pension costs are “exploding” across New York state. Read More
One day after seeming to agree to an acceptable compromise on Gov. Cuomo’s proposed 2 percent cap on property-tax levies, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday seemed to be sticking a poison pill in the fine print. Read More
Gov. Cuomo seems close to unveiling his promised pension-reform plan for New York’s state and local governments. Read More
While Gov. Cuomo stumped the state this week in support of (among other things) his proposed cap on local property taxes, Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Assembly would soon introduce its own version of a tax-cap bill -- one with “not too many” exceptions. Read More
Another Tax Day brings with it yet another unher alded and unlegislated income-tax increase for middle-income New Yorkers. Read More
The stock-market crash of 2000-02 lit the fuse on a decade long explosion in taxpayer-funded contributions to New York City’s municipal-pension systems. But a new report from Comptroller John Liu shows that roughly half the damage was avoidable -- resulting from the city’s own bad policy choices and mismanagement. Read More
Gov. Cuomo’s budget deal with the Legislature is not quite the “transformation plan” he spoke of just two months ago. Read More
Like Madison, Wisconsin, the scene of so much recent debate, Albany began this year facing an enormous budget gap for fiscal 2011-12. Read More
Filing a Freedom of Information Law request can be a needlessly lengthy and frustrating process for one taxpayer filing just one request. Read More
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s broad challenge to government unions won’t be replicated in New York state anytime soon. Read More