Month: May 2008

Addressing the possibility of mid-year cuts in school aid, which Senate leaders are pledging to avoid, Governor Paterson is quoted in today's Newsday as saying: "Seventy-one percent of the resources we spend on education are administrative. We can make a lot of cuts ... without touching the classroom or affecting teachers." Read More

Hardly anyone seems to believe that recent events in the global economy and financial markets will lead to long-term price stability.*  So assuming a recession is upon us, what’s next: or ? S Read More

Governor Paterson went before a congressional committee today to a federal stimulus package to aid financially troubled states--including this pitch for added funding for infrastructure repair: We in New York have many programs involving Read More

On the heels of Governor Paterson's gloomy budget update, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli the state's Common Retirement Fund has lost 20 percent of its value since April 1.  That would translate into a drop of $31 billion from the March 31 level Read More

Governor David Paterson is right on the money in calling for "bold and aggressive action to reduce state spending" to deal with the severe and worsening fiscal crisis detailed in today's .  At this point, after months of dire warnings, there's hardl Read More

From my presentation at yesterday's Manhattan Institute "Market Meltdown" conference, a chart depicting the 10-year trend in public pension fund contributions by New York State and City taxpayers: Pension contributions over the past eight years ha Read More

After wavering on the issue in recent weeks, Governor Paterson today seemed to rule out tax increases as part of the solution to the state's growing budget problem -- at least for the next 18 months. "I don't think there should be any taxes at thi Read More

As shown below, the highest-earning 1 percent of taxpayers (those with incomes above $750,000 or so as of 2007) accounted for nearly 40 percent of New York's total state income tax liability last year -- up from around 27 percent in the mid-1990s.  Read More