But E.J. McMahon, research director for the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy, says the revenue and economic outlook for the fiscal year is “pretty optimistic” for a governor “who hasn’t stopped predicting we’re doomed as a result of the SALT cap.” Read More
Is it time to consider potential changes to New York’s state budget-making rules? At its inaugural Governor Hugh L. Carey Policy Forum in Albany on May 30, the Empire Center will assemble leading experts with hands-on experience in the budget process to explore answers to those questions. Read More
The new state budget features a larger-than-usual increase in Medicaid spending and two new coverage mandates for private insurers – adding to the already steep costs of health care for New York's taxpayers and policyholders. Read More
E.J. McMahon, the research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, said the current law works to rein in spending and chided elected officials for posturing after voting for the omnibus bill they are deriding. Both Barnwell and Gianaris voted for the so-called “big ugly” bill. Read More
Taxpayers can chalk up a victory thanks to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s successful effort to make the property tax cap permanent. The 2011 law, which could have expired in mid-2020, limits the annual growth in property tax levies to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. The fiscally conservative Empire Center says the 8-year-old law has saved New Yorkers billions of dollars in tax payments. Read More
New York’s new budget — the actual state-government expenditure plan, that is, as opposed to numerous side issues packaged with it — apparently came in close to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bottom line. Read More
Few public policies carry a more misleading moniker than New York’s “prevailing wage” law for public works projects — a job-destroying cost-escalator that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature may be on the verge of expanding as part of their impending state budget deal. Read More
With the Legislature getting ready to pass a budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, some fresh data and analysis emerging from the world outside Albany in the past week or so has raised new questions about the durability of the state's revenue base. Read More