E.J. McMahon

Founding Senior Fellow

Edmund J. McMahon was the Empire Center’s founding senior fellow.

McMahon’s writing and research has focused on improving New York’s economic competitiveness and promoting greater transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility in state and local government. He has authored or co-authored major studies on public pension reform, collective bargaining, population migration, budget trends and tax policy in New York. His influential “Blueprint for a Better Budget,” published in January 2010, featured a number of recommendations subsequently implemented under Governors David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo. McMahon also was a leading advocate of an across-the-board cap on property taxes in New York before it was enacted at Governor Cuomo’s initiative in 2011.

McMahon has published numerous articles and essays in publications including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, the Public Interest, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, Newsday and the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. His frequent radio and TV interviews have included appearances on CNBC, Fox News Channel and Bloomberg News, as well as on regional cable and broadcast outlets throughout New York State.

McMahon’s professional background includes nearly 30 years as an Albany-based analyst and close observer of New York State government. As chief fiscal advisor to the Assembly Republican Conference in the early 1990s, he drafted a personal income tax reform plan that would become the basis for historic tax cuts enacted under Governor George E. Pataki. Previously, as research director of the Public Policy Institute, he worked on the Institute’s counter-budget proposals and developed the template for New York’s school report cards. He also served as a deputy commissioner in the state Department of Taxation and Finance and as a vice chancellor of the State University of New York.

McMahon is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, which he joined in June 2000. In January 2005, he opened the Institute’s Albany-based Empire Center project, which became an independent nonprofit think tank in 2013. He was the Empire Center’s founding president and became research director in the fall of 2016.

Earlier in his career, he was a staff writer and columnist for the Albany Times Union and The Knickerbocker News.

McMahon is a graduate of Villanova University.

Latest Work

A Meaningful New Try on Pensions

  • by E.J. McMahon
  • Newsday
  • January 18, 2012
  • Commentary

Just over two years ago, New York State enacted what then-Gov. David A. Paterson presented to the world as "landmark pension reform." In his 2012-13 budget proposal this week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo raised the subject of pension reform all over again. Why? Because Paterson's bill was a "landmark" only in the annals of Albany political hyperbole. Read More

Testimony: Tier 6 Pension

As part of his 2012-13 budget legislation, Governor Cuomo has proposed the most significant and potentially far-reaching reform of New York public pensions in at least 36 years. While the governor’s plan is far from being an ideal solution to the problem of exploding pension costs and long-term liabilities, it includes some significant steps in the right direction, which are worthy of serious consideration and support. Read More

The Real NY Minimum Wage

  • by E.J. McMahon
  • New York Post
  • February 2, 2012
  • Commentary

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants to raise the state's minimum wage by 17 percent, to $8.50 an hour, and link it to inflation, guaranteeing more yearly increases. Read More

NY’s Still Too Business-Unfriendly

  • by E.J. McMahon
  • Newsday
  • February 2, 2012
  • Commentary

Reciting a litany of economic challenges facing New York soon after he took office as governor a year ago, Andrew M. Cuomo declared: "We have the worst business tax climate in the nation, period." Read More

National Recovery Leaves NY Behind

  • by E.J. McMahon
  • Newsday
  • February 9, 2012
  • Commentary

January's stronger-than-expected employment numbers, released by the U.S. Labor Departmentlast week, are fueling hopes that the economic recovery may finally be picking up steam. Read More

To the Editor: State Should Take Over SSI Payment Function

  • by E.J. McMahon
  • Syracuse Post-Standard
  • February 13, 2012
  • Commentary

To the Editor: As part of his State Fiscal Year 2012-13 Executive Budget, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has included a long overdue initiative to take over the administration of New York’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) state supplemental payment from the federal Social Security Administration. Read More