Government watchdog E.J. McMahon, of the Empire Center, warned that the Amazon ordeal would be noticed by other firms. “The Amazon fiasco definitely sent a signal, and it’s not a good signal from multiple angles,” McMahon said. “Governor DeSantis couldn’t have picked a better time to work on poaching New York businesses, especially high earners in finance. More than a few will no doubt find it tempting to at least listen to Florida’s pitch.” Read More
We also reached out to the experts to see what they have to say. In our latest “Ask the Experts” feature, we reached out to Donnie Charleston, diirector of state and local fiscal engagement at the Urban Institute; David Friedfel, director of state studies at the Citizens Budget Commission; Bruce Gyory, a senior advisor at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and a Democratic political consultant; Jim Heaney, the founder, editor and executive director of Investigative Post; and E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
As part of his 30-day amendments to the budget, the governor set a cap on how much charity-care funding profitable downstate hospitals can receive. Facilities in New York City, Long Island and Westchester that earn—or are part of a system that earns—at least $68 million in operating income or have an operating margin of at least 2.98% would be capped at $10,000 in indigent-care payments. The move would save $138 million in state funding, leaving $719 million, wrote Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center, in an analysis of the health budget Friday. Read More
According to the highly regarded Empire Center for Public Policy, the Cuomo administration, over its first eight years, wasted more than $10 billion in public funding and tax breaks on these types of economic development boondoggles. Read More
E.J. McMahon, research director of the conservative think tank Empire Center for Public Policy, told CBS New York and The Associated Press that, if the state splits, the upstate region would feel the economic effects. "Upstate would need to do a really significant reset of the way government is funded and what it spends, and upstate politicians have not exactly been clamoring for the reforms that it would take to make that happen," he said. Read More
“The Legislature has the power to reduce any appropriation proposed by the governor, or eliminate it, and there’s nothing he can do about it. They’ve never wielded this power or even threatened it. I don’t know why. Maybe they’re so addicted to spending," said E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a state budget watchdog group. Read More
The Governor announced that the state has to deal with a 2.3-billion-dollar revenue shortfall which he blamed on the federal tax overhaul passed late in 2017. EJ McMahon, Founder and Research Director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, shared his analysis of the situation. Read More
E.J. McMahon, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, said the scuttling of the Amazon headquarters "highlights New York's lack of competitiveness" as it jockeys with other states to lure jobs. While the nation's largest city struggles with an overcrowded subway and other hindrances to development, the solution put forward by critics of the Amazon subsidy amount to a simplistic "tax the rich" approach, without any other targeted remedies, McMahon said. Read More