Industry lawsuits filed against Governor Cuomo's $100 million opioid tax, summarized in today's Wall Street Journal, are raising fresh questions about the levy's fairness and unintended side effects. Read More
Category: Blog
New York State's budget outlook for fiscal 2020 is improving, according to the Mid-Year Financial Plan update issued today by Governor Cuomo's Division of the Budget (DOB) The Mid-Year Update—released 10 days past the Oct. 30 deadline, keeping alive the Governor's perfect record of annual tardiness—pegs the budget gap at $3.070 billion for the fiscal year that starts next April 1. That's down from $4.027 billion as of the end of the first fiscal quarter. Read More
How big are the fiscal challenges faced by New York State in second half of its 2019 fiscal year? Are tax receipts and spending living up with projections? What's the outlook for the next few years? We don't know—because, for an eighth consecutive year, Governor Andrew Cuomo has missed the statutory deadline for producing a Mid-Year Financial Plan Update. Read More
Seven years after its enactment, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s cap on property tax levies continues to be a target of unfounded criticism by some politicians and candidates who either don’t understand the cap or deliberately misrepresent how it works. Read More
In a replay of the notorious Pataki-Rivera deal of 2002, the Cuomo administration has quietly ordered a multi-billion-dollar Medicaid rate increase to hospitals and nursing homes, with the money earmarked to boost employee pay and benefits. Read More
In the heat of close-fought elections that could give them a state Senate majority for the first time in 10 years, Democrats have been sending mixed signals on single-payer health care. Read More
In a press conference at Albany Medical Center on Monday, Senator Chuck Schumer deplored what he called a "dramatic cut to upstate New York hospitals," which he claimed would force layoffs and threaten "critical care services such as cancer treatment, addiction treatment and prescription drug access." The senator's depiction of a complex policy change was alarmist and misleading. Read More
The highest earning one percent of New York City residents generated 43 percent of city income taxes and 51 percent of the New York State income taxes collected from individuals living in the city as of 2016, according to newly released data from the Independent Budget Office (IBO). The IBO's latest tax liability estimates highlight once again New York's heavy dependence on the top 1 percent, for which the income cut point as of 2016 was $713,706. Read More