Looking ahead to the first budget of his administration, Governor Spitzer pledged earlier this month to "make hard choices and begin to fundamentally reform and restructure programs that have become needlessly expensive" and to "say ‘no' to budget requests we simply cannot afford." Read More
The state-funded portion of Spitzer's $121 billion Executive Budget (excluding federal aid) calls for a spending hike of 7.8 percent - three times the projected inflation rate for the state's 2007-08 fiscal year, which begins April 1. Read More
Video from a conference hosted by E.J. McMahon Read More
As if New Yorkers didn't already suspect that they're far more heavily taxed than residents of other big cities, the city Independent Budget Office yesterday issued a study proving it more conclusively than ever. Read More
Gov. Spitzer's proposed budget "sends the wrong signal to firms that might otherwise consider investing or expanding in our state" by raising taxes on some large corporations, E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy said in testimony before the Legislature's joint fiscal committees. Read More
As the $121 billion state budget was heading toward passage late last week, some observers jumped to the conclusion that Gov. Spitzer had conceded too much, too soon in his first negotiations with the Legislature. Read More
To promote greater public scrutiny of tax-funded expenditures, the Empire Center for Public Policy has assembled a list of pork-barrel "member items" found in the 2007-08 budget bills passed by the Legislature. Read More
In a trend that has gained little notice outside state and federal budget offices, the growth rate in Medicaid expenditures across the country has slowed to subinflation levels that were last seen in the 1990s. It's even happening in New York — home to what is by far the nation's most costly Medicaid program. Read More