E.J. McMahon, president of the conservative Empire Center for State Policy, said it would be irresponsible to use the windfalls on recurring expenses like school aid or tax cuts. “All you do is increase spending and then you have to keep paying for it when the money is gone,” McMahon said. Read More
No matter how much the left wants to expand government, no matter how much the right wants to cut taxes, both ought to observe a fundamental rule of government spending: Never use one-shot revenues to fund recurring operating expenses. Read More
Empire Center for Public Policy founder & President EJ McMahon on how New York State can best spend $3.3 billion in fines paid by French bank BNP Paribas. Read More
New York will reap a state budget windfall of at least $3.3 billion in fines paid by the big French bank BNP Paribas after it pleaded guilty recently to violating sanctions against transactions in Cuba, Sudan and Iran. So, how should the money be spent? Read More
New York is getting at least $2.24 billion as part of a national settlement with the French bank BNP Paribas, and the money will go into the state's general fund for any number of purposes. Read More
Gov. Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. have just come into one hell of a pile of money. Read More
The Thruway Authority still hasn't revealed its plan for financing the new Tappan Zee bridge, but a state revolving loan fund for clean water projects will help prime the pump. Read More
An abandoned service area on the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess County has been reopened, at taxpayer expense, as a government-run "Taste NY" store and farmers' market. Read More