Commentary

Fresh from the voters' resounding rejection of Prop One - the so-called "budget reform" that really amounted to a prescription for runaway spending - some legislative leaders are already pledging they will revisit elements of the same dubious package. Read More

One of the more striking aspects of this year's mayoral campaign has been the lack of any substantial debate on New York City's tax policy. To be sure, Fernando Ferrer has done his share of carping about Michael Bloomberg's tax hikes. Read More

As more of the facts emerge about Proposal One on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot, New Yorkers are discovering that this attempt by Albany insiders to protect lawmakers' paychecks and rewrite the state constitution is hardly the "reform" its supporters have made it out to be. Read More

Unlike residents of 29 other states, New Yorkers don't have the opportunity to end-run their politicians through a statewide voter initiative or referendum process. As a result, we've never been able to mount the kind of up-from-the-grassroots taxpayer revolt that's shaken some other state governments to their foundations. Read More

Property taxes are unpopular with homeowners from coast to coast - and nowhere more so than in NewYork state, which is home to some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Relative to property values and incomes, the property tax burden might be heaviest of all in Central New York and other Upstate regions. Read More

When George E. Pataki first became governor in 1994, he made much of his humble origins on a farm in a small Hudson River community. And based on the vote totals, a large majority of New York City residents apparently dismissed him as a country bumpkin—or, at best, a suburban arriviste. Read More

Amid the hundreds of arcane laws enacted every year in Albany, how's a taxpayer to know which ones actually represent a huge favor to a powerful special interest group - with huge cost implications for the rest of us? Read More

With the ashes of September 11 still smoldering, Michael Bloomberg won his first New York mayoral term largely because city voters assumed that he would stick with Rudolph Giuliani’s most successful policies. Read More

Many state and local governments throughout the country - led by both Democrats and Republicans - have found that opening more public services to private competition can produce significant cost savings and quality improvements. Read More

If there's one thing on which virtually everyone in Albany agrees, it's the need to expand the availability of health insurance to the roughly 3 million New York state residents who lack it. Read More

Listening to Michael Bloomberg present the fourth budget of his mayoralty yesterday was like listening to a man having an argument with himself. The former CEO in the mayor's office made a strong case for doing more - much more - to downsize the city's exceedingly vast array of costly public services. Read More

After tweaking a few of their house rules and adopting a state budget on time for the first time in 20 years, many New York State legislators would have you believe they've fixed all or most of what's broken in Albany. Read More