Officials in New York, New Jersey, California, and Maryland are going to the mat against the White House, reworking their tax codes to ease residents’ pain from new limits to federal deductions for state, local and property taxes. E.J McMahon, founder of the fiscally conservative Empire Center, a think tank in Albany, states that this is "the kind of thing that emerges in an ivory tower with not much thought about the practicality." Read More
Conservative critics contend that the complexity could be frightening to corporations that might already be wary of the state’s high-tax reputation. “It’s so complicated, it would be repellent in its own right,” said E.J. McMahon, the founder of the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
For all the taxes that Congress is aiming to cut, one has surprisingly dodged the ax so far: the $14.3 billion “Health Insurance Tax,” or HIT. Read More
Although Cuomo has said in recent weeks that he anticipates a $4 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year, E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Empire Center think tank said DiNapoli’s updated estimates could indicate a shortfall of as much as $6.8 billion. The current budget totals $163 billion including federal aid. “The comptroller’s new estimate boosts the shortfall to $6.8 billion, by far the biggest prospective blob of red ink on Albany’s books since Cuomo took office,” McMahon said. Read More
A federally mandated state takeover of local Medicaid costs would likely set up a three-way fiscal tug-of-war between upstate counties, downstate suburbs, and New York City. Read More
START-UP NY, New York’s signature economic development program, made headlines for creating just 408 jobs in its first two years of operations. However, bigger disappointments may lie ahead. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy, said music producers and game developers are getting a "very sweet deal" by piggybacking on the film industry's lobbying. Much of the subsidized business was already here, he said. Read More
New York’s $156 billion budget, enacted on April 1, authorizes the state to spend $4,947 per second during its 2016-17 fiscal year, according to the Empire Center’s updated Spend-O-Meter. Read More