If GE and IBM have some truly great and promising ideas for next-generation semiconductor materials, why do they need a New York taxpayer subsidy to develop them? Ira Stoll has provided some answers in a must-read column. Read More
Latest
Most high-income New York City residents who left the city in 2012 moved to neighboring jurisdictions, according to a new analysis of federal Census data by the city Independent Budget Office (IBO). Today's Times claims this shows that wealthy New Yorkers are not "fleeing the city for tax havens." But who says they are? Besides, compared to the city, suburban New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are tax havens. Read More
After seven months of foot-dragging, New York's economic development agency finally got around to answering the Empire Center's request for details of state spending on an advertising campaign promoting the Start-Up NY tax-free zone program. The total price tag for the campaign over the past year has been nearly $35 million, most of it spent on TV commercials outside and inside New York State, according to the summary we received. Read More
New York State's year-over-year private sector job creation rate remained behind the national average in June. Seventy percent of the new jobs were in New York City, and upstate employment barely grew at all. Read More
No matter how much the left wants to expand government, no matter how much the right wants to cut taxes, both ought to observe a fundamental rule of government spending: Never use one-shot revenues to fund recurring operating expenses. Read More
Responding to McMahon’s presentation will be a panel of local officials, including Mayor Ernest Davis (Mount Vernon), Mayor Noam Bramson (New Rochelle), Mayor Randy Sellier (Pelham Manor), Mayor Anne McAndrews (Larchmont), City Manager Al Gatta (Scarsdale) and Village Trustee Chris Reim (Pelham). Read More
New York will reap a state budget windfall of at least $3.3 billion in fines paid by the big French bank BNP Paribas after it pleaded guilty recently to violating sanctions against transactions in Cuba, Sudan and Iran. So, how should the money be spent? Read More
State Senate Republicans have issued a news release explaining how they'd like to spend upwards of $3 billion in penalties that will be paid into the state budget's general fund by the French bank BNP Paribas for violating trading sanctions with Cuba, Iran and Sudan. Unfortunately, the Senate's "bold plan" isn't nearly bold enough. Read More