Tag: Taxes and Spending

Over the weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York's Legislatureagreed on a $168.3 billion budget for the 2019 fiscal year. Before Albany moves on to the next thing - which could be nothing in an election year - let's revisit what it just did and what it means. Read More

Count New York’s government-employee unions among the biggest winners of this year’s budget battle — with taxpayers as the big losers. In the dead of night, the Legislature adopted language that aims to protect public unions’ political power from a likely US Supreme Court ruling. Read More

As Albany lawmakers consider imposing costly new taxes and mandates on health insurance, a report from the New York State Health Foundation offers a timely reminder: The state’s insurance premiums are already among the highest in the country, and rising fast. Read More

E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank, stated that the tax conformity issues raised by the federal law would be the primary focus of New York tax policy in most years. However, the state and local tax deduction (SALT deduction) issue, and the related proposals to shift the state’s reliance away from the personal income tax, has drawn the lion’s share of attention. Read More

If the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo don't act, some New Yorkers would be on the hook for another $1.5 billion in tax hikes, according to state records and experts. E.J. McMahon, founder of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank in Albany, Cuomo has called the federal tax law "a missile aimed at the heart of New York, and he’s got his own missile aimed at the same people." Read More

Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to overhaul the state tax system by swapping state income for payroll taxes, which remain deductible under the new federal tax code. E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center, a fiscal watchdog group, notes that the loss of state deductibility could cost taxpayers an estimated $400 million. Read More