New York has the second most progressive distribution of federal income taxes among the 50 states, according to a new analysis from the Tax Foundation. From the Tax Foundation's Fiscal Fact: Taxpayers earning more than $200,000 earned 40 percent of... Read More
Warren Buffett had this to say before Washington's Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission yesterday (via Bloomberg) about the debt of state and local governments: "There will be a terrible problem and then the question becomes will the federal government help... Read More
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is not putting money for 2 percent raises for New York City teachers in his proposed budget. Despite that, some teachers will automatically get annual raises as high as 11.6 percent. Read More
As New York State struggles to dig itself out of a budget hole approaching $10 billion, a growing chorus of voices is calling for an obvious and overdue reform: Freeze public-sector pay. Read More
Governor David Paterson has proposed legislation to implement a cap on school property tax levies in New York State. His original tax cap bill was passed by the state Senate in August 2008, but died in the state Assembly. Paterson's latest tax cap proposal was submitted to the Legislature on July 30, 2010. Read More
A searchable database of the complete Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) payroll for 2009 – including names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by 74,708 individuals – shows an increase of 2.4 percent in the average total pay of MTA employees last year. Read More
Many if not most New York City teachers will continue receiving automatic longevity pay increases despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement today that he will "eliminate raises" for them in the next budget. In fact, as illustrated... Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli yesterday issued a happy talk news release touting the state retirement system's 26 percent return on investments in fiscal 2009-10, which ended March 31. “The Fund remains one of the strongest in the U.S.,” DiNapoli said. Read More