Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard has spurred much less of the new renewable energy generation than promised. Read More
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Nearly two-thirds of New York State’s tax receipts are now generated by the personal income tax, or PIT. As a result, the state is very heavily reliant on highest-earning 1 percent of New York taxpayers—whose effective income tax rates have increased sharply under the new federal tax law capping state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Read More
Cuomo has further boosted the state’s already heavy reliance on taxes paid by income millionaires. This has made Albany’s revenue base more fragile and volatile — a problem aggravated by the new federal cap on state and local tax deductions, which effectively raises total tax rates for New York’s highest earners. Read More
The interactive map on this page depicts how the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will affect New Yorkers in two different adjusted gross income (AGI) ranges: $75,000 to $100,000, and $100,000 to $200,000. Read More
The Empire Center has updated its online Spend-O-Meter to reflect the record size of New York’s newly enacted $168.3 billion budget for fiscal 2019. Read More
From 2014 to 2016, New York’s Medicaid program saw a surge in drug spending that Governor Andrew Cuomo blamed on “abusive” behavior by drug manufacturers. A new Empire Center issue brief shows that, after accounting for rebates, the surge was smaller than Cuomo described, and that it was mostly driven by enrollment growth. Overall, the report finds that price increases accounted for about one-fifth of the spending surge, while enrollment accounted for four-fifths. Read More
This report explores recent trends in New York’s Medicaid drug spending, the forces behind them, and how they fit into the national context. Read More
Last week's New York state budget approval process was even more rushed, secretive, confused and sloppy than usual—stretching through Good Friday and the first night of Passover into the predawn hours of Saturday, March 31—all in the name of meeting an ultimately inconsequential April 1 "deadline" for the start of the new fiscal year. Read More