"It's utterly, completely unlikely to happen in any way, shape or form," said Bill Hammond of the fiscally conservative Empire Center think tank. Read More
Tag: Andrew Cuomo
Governor Cuomo is now backing away from Medicaid spending cuts he pushed less than four weeks ago, his second about-face on health-care funding so far this year. Even more head-spinning is his stated rationale: the supposed threat to federal aid outlined in President Trump's budget proposal this week. Read More
E.J. McMahon, chief researcher for the Empire Center for Public Policy, said the Assembly proposal amounts to "tax and spend fantasy." Read More
“The premise of the pied-à-terre tax — get money from wealthy nonresidents — sounds reasonable on the surface,” said E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy think tank. “The main problem with the idea is the assumption that an entirely new tax is needed in what’s already the nation’s most heavily taxed and wealthy big city, in order to fund the capital plan of a transit system that has yet to demonstrate it can effectively spend the money it already has.” Read More
Under state law, the impasse means Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli will issue a revenue forecast on or before March 5. Legislators consistently push for higher numbers than the governor, but the current situation represents the first time in Mr. Cuomo’s three-term gubernatorial tenure that he and the Legislature have been unable to reach consensus. “It means they are getting off to a testy start, but it doesn’t mean they are doomed and they are not going to be able to do a budget,” said E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank. Read More
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
Requiring New York health plans to cover in vitro fertilization would add up to 1.1 percent to premiums, according to a state study belatedly released today. Read More