Federal income tax increases proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama could indirectly blow a nearly $1 billion hole in New York State’s treasury over the next two years, according to a new released last week by the Empire Cent Read More
This report reviews the impact of federal tax cuts on New York State since 2001 and looks at how the Empire State would be affected by the sharply divergent tax policy agendas of the 2008 presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. Estimates are provided for the direct New York impact of the candidates’ principal individual income tax proposals over the next two years. Read More
The collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and yesterday's 500- point drop in the Dow may yet prove to be the turning point in a long-overdue shakeout. If the optimists are right, a stronger and smarter securities industry will eventually emerge from the ruins of the last few months. Read More
Earlier in this decade, the last major change in federal tax policy helped bail New York out of its last Wall Street downturn. Will Washington help or hurt the city this time around? Read More
Payrolls of two of New York’s largest public authorities—the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the New York State Thruway Authority—are now available at SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
As schools open across New York State this week, much of what happens in the classroom will be affected by contracts between school districts and unions representing their teachers. Read More
The financial-market implosion and the coming transformation of the securities industry will expose the fundamental flaw in New York State’s woefully overextended public finance model. The state budget is today geared to run on an ever-expanding stream of high-octane revenues from a Wall Street that no longer exists—and the rest of New York’s economy isn’t nearly robust enough to make up the difference. Read More
LAST week's state Senate approval of Gov. Paterson's proposed cap on school property taxes seems to have induced a nervous breakdown in the powerful statewide teachers' union. Read More