Spitzer’s expansion of education funding and restructuring of the school aid formula may be his most important legacy. Unfortunately, C4E has been seriously hobbled by flaws in its assumptions about the mechanisms of reform, by misguided beliefs about “what works” in achieving excellence, and by a compressed timeline for adoption and implementation. Read More
This report reviews the impact of federal tax cuts on New York State since 2001 and looks at how the Empire State would be affected by the sharply divergent tax policy agendas of the 2008 presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. Estimates are provided for the direct New York impact of the candidates’ principal individual income tax proposals over the next two years. Read More
Nearly 8,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees—including more than 4,800 in the past year—have been added to New York’s state government payroll since the fall of 2006, according to data from the state comptroller’s office. Read More
The “people’s right to know” is a hollow concept when government can withhold vital information until it is too late for the people’s voice to be heard. Read More
Despite a crushing recession and a $45 billion drop in the state pension fund, Albany’s 2009 legislative hopper includes dozens of proposals to enhance the retirement benefits of New York State and local government employees. Read More
Almost all of the projected $2.1 billion deficit in this year’s New York State budget can be traced to falling tax receipts. But rising spending will represent a growing share of the problem over the next three years. In fact, more than one-third of the projected growth in next year’s gap, and over half the growth in the gap for fiscal 2013, can be traced to spending increases beyond those forecast by the Division of the Budget (DOB) in April. Read More
The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource—people. From 2000 to 2008, in both absolute and relative terms, New York experienced the nation’s largest loss of residents to other states—a net domestic migration outflow of over 1.5 million, or 8 percent of its population at the start of the decade. Read More
New York State is broke. Like a runaway train, New York's budget is in danger of running completely off the rails. It needs to be brought under control—before it's too late. Read More