Voters dealt budget blows to Scarsdale and Briarcliff Manor schools as the districts attempted to override the state tax cap Tuesday night. Not challenging the cap, but also failing, were budgets in Elmsford and Mount Vernon school districts. A Read More
The full exemption of all taxes is a "promising new wrinkle," said E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute. McMahon said the state go further and use its more generous, $440 million tax subsidy for TV and movie productions to phase out all corporate taxes for new and existing companies. Read More
The full exemption from all taxes is a "promising new wrinkle," said E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute. "But the state should go much further than this." McMahon said the state should use its more generous $440 million tax subsidy for TV and movie productions to phase out all corporate taxes for new and existing companies. Read More
If Gov. Andrew Cuomo thinks taxes are so burdensome in Upstate New York, why not cut them for every business? That's the Empire Center's reaction to Cuomo's plan unveiled Wednesday that would create tax-free zones around SUNY campuses for employers and employees. "In the final analysis, highly touted 'economic development' programs built on a promise of significant tax relief ultimately beg the same question: If our taxes are such a hindrance to growth, why not reduce them for everyone?" wrote E.J. McMahon, senior fellow for the Empire Center, in a blog post. Read More
Be warned, New York: The next mayor will face an epic challenge in protecting you from paying a whole lot more to get a whole lot less. On Inauguration Day, Jan. 1, Michael Bloomberg’s successor will confront huge unpaid bills whose payment would require dramatically raising taxes, slashing spending, or both. Read More
The state's economic growth rate was 1.3 percent compared with the national rate of 2.5 percent, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce report released Thursday that is based on gross domestic product. "For the second year in a row, we're looking at a mediocre number for New York," said E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute. "It's consistent with other economic data showing that we have begun to slow down relative to the national economy. If the job data are any indication, upstate's economy isn't growing at all." Read More
At Wednesday's summit, sponsored by the fiscally conservative Empire Center, several speakers said New York's high taxes need to be lowered and its regulatory structures reined in before any upstate revival could really start. Participants also provided a vivid but dismal picture of upstate's economic decline over the past half-century. Read More
Robert Geer’s salary would be $220,000 for the job that would begin on or about Aug. 1, and it would continue until a permanent successor for Yeigh is appointed, the resolution said. That could take as long as a year, officials have said. Yeigh’s total compensation in 2012 was $257,000, according to records available on See Through NY government watchdog website. Read More