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New York's newly adopted city budget for fiscal 2006 calls for a 7.5 percent spending increase, well above the rate of inflation or growth in the city's economy. Under the four municipal budgets adopted since Michael Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, city spending has risen at more than twice the inflation rate. Relative to New Yorkers' personal income, city operating expenditures in the year ahead will be significantly higher than the average during Rudolph Giuliani's tenure in the mayor's office. Read More

State lawmakers this year passed at least 36 measures that would expand pension benefits for groups of public workers, according to a new analysis released by the Empire Center for Public Policy. The 2006 crop of pension sweeteners -- approved agains Read More

Seemingly oblivious to the already high and rising cost of taxpayer-funded public pensions in New York, state lawmakers this year passed at least 36 measures that would expand pension benefits for groups of public workers. Read More

In a budget " cleanup bill" they adopted before adjourning two weeks ago, state legislators effectively plunked about $1 billion worth of rum soaked cherries on what was already a massive New York style cheesecake of fiscal excess. Read More

Some of the more ballyhooed changes are so small they may escape a typical taxpayer's notice. For example, if your family owns two cars and drives a lot, the repeal of sales taxes on gasoline purchases over $2 per gallon may save you a whopping $30 over the course of a year. Read More

In the closing hours of its 2006 session, the state Legislature rushed to approve new laws giving New York's public employee unions significant added leverage in contract negotiations with local governments and school districts. Last week, both ho Read More

As the state's 2006 legislative session winds down, it appears Senate lawmakers won't vote on a proposed bill that would require large companies to provide comprehensive health care benefits to their workers. Read More

When it comes to reducing property taxes, New York's two leading gubernatorial candidates are hitching their wagons to George Pataki's STAR. Read More