A task force co-chaired by former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch this week reached an "unambiguous" conclusion about the fiscal stresses on state governments: "The basic problem is not cyclical. It is structural." Read More
Tag: Taxes and Spending
The Obama administration quietly issued a new waiver last month that allows states to change the rules of how success is measured in welfare reform. Read More
New York taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year on health insurance coverage for retired state and local government employees, many of whom are too young to be eligible for Medicare. But the mounting “pay-as-you-go” bill for retiree healthcare is just the tip of a much larger iceberg. Read More
In his controversial "47 percent" remarks, Mitt Romney nailed one fact: Nearly half of Americans do not pay income tax. Read More
So it’s unanimous: All five of the leading prospective Democratic candidates for mayor are now on record in support of raising New York City’s top income tax rate. Read More
Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest element of most municipal budgets. The 2011-12 edition of What They Make, the Empire Center’s annual report on public payrolls, allows New York taxpayers to compare this key element of local government costs around the state. Read More
Retiree health benefits for state and local government employees are a huge, unfunded and rapidly growing liability for taxpayers throughout New York. Read More
By capping property taxes, Gov. Cuomo has tapped the brakes on local government and school spending outside New York City. He’s also taken steps to limit the growth in the local share of Medicaid over the next few years, and to curb public pension expenses further down the road. Read More