The Empire Center’s unique online “Explore Your State Budget” app has been updated to reflect data in the enacted fiscal 2018 budget.
The database of New York state budget information, which is accessible through the Center’s SeeThroughNY website, includes actual results, estimates and projections for major spending and tax categories from 2012 until fiscal 2021. In addition, the tool contains annual disbursements dating back to 1984 and tax receipts since 1976.
Historical spending and tax data are presented both in nominal and inflation-adjusted terms. In addition, data can be downloaded and saved in spreadsheet form. Here is a small sampling of important budget trends revealed by the Explore Your State Budget database:
- State aid to public schools will rise by 5.8 percent, more than double the expected rate of inflation, going from $24.4 billion in fiscal 2017 to $25.8 billion in fiscal 2018.
- The state’s debt service payments, fueled in part by the Legislature’s decision to borrow to pay for economic development and pork-barrel projects, are expected to climb from $5.3 billion in fiscal 2017 to $7.4 billion in fiscal 2021.
- The state will collect $4.8 billion in taxes and fees on health care services and health insurance during fiscal 2018 following the renewal of Health Care Reform Act taxes that were enacted on a temporary basis in 1996.
The direct web address for Explore Your State Budget is SeeThroughNY.net/nysbudget.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and do business.
You may also like
New York’s Electricity Prices Fourth Highest in the Country
New York households are paying the fourth-highest electricity prices in the country, according to the Empire Center's In April 2026, residential electricity prices in New York averaged 29.45 cents per kilowatt-hour - 56 percent above the national average Read More
Fourteen NYC Educators Receive Over Half a Million Dollars in Pensions
Fourteen retired New York City educators received more than $500,000 in pension benefits in 2025, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
The data was obtained from the New York City Teachers’ Retirement Read More
Hammond Submits CDPAP Testimony to Congress
The Empire Center's Bill Hammond today submitted written testimony for a congressional hearing on healthcare fraud.
Hammond's testimony to the focuses on evidence of overuse and wa Read More
34 MTA Workers Made $200K+ In Overtime In 2025
Thirty-four employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) received more than $200,000 in overtime payments in 2025, as total annual pay surpassed half a million dollars for some, according to , the Empire Center’s governm Read More
A Bullying Lawyer Trapped an Innocent Woman in a Five-Year Court Battle – but New York Law can’t Make her Whole
We like to associate the law with justice—protecting the innocent and punishing the wrongdoers. But sometimes our laws punish the innocent and protect the wrongdoers instead.
Dutchess County mom Vika Shock learned this the hard way.
In November 20 Read More
New York at the Crossroads. WILL IT MODERNIZE LIABILITY LAW OR EXPAND IT?
Executive Summary
New York’s Litigation Environment
In a wide range of areas, New York law subjects residents and businesses to greater liability than other states. Consider, for example, that:
Unlike most other states, New York a Read More
New York’s Electricity Prices 70 Percent Above the National Average
Recent data from the Energy Information Administration and Empire Center for Public Policy show New York’s average residential electricity prices at 29.99 cents per kilowatt hour. This is 70 percent higher than the U.S. average of 17.6 cents per kilowat Read More
Over Five Years Later, Arbeeny Family Support Still Critical to Promoting Government Transparency
Albany, NY — The Arbeeny family and the Empire Center are marking five years of partnership in remembrance of Norman Arbeeny, who passed away six years ago today after contracting COVID-19 in a Brooklyn nursing home.
To honor Nor Read More