Governor Andrew Cuomo eliminated funding of new "member item" spending when he took office four years ago—but the Ghost of Pork Barrels Past continues to haunt the state's finances. Each of Cuomo's first four Executive Budget proposals projected the depletion and elimination of what's technically known as the "Community Projects Fund - 007" -- but every year, the enacted budget has restored the money to back up reappropriations of the member item lump sum. Read More
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's 2015-16 budget proposal released Wednesday called for tax breaks for middle-class New Yorkers and small businesses as well as increasing the minimum wage and spending a third of a $5.4 billion surplus on New York City-area mass transit. Read More
Now that a consultant has recommended four locations for a possible new stadium for the Buffalo Bills, a big question leaps out: Who would pay? Read More
The impact of declining crude oil prices, already visible at the gas pump, has now rippled through to New York State’s petroleum business tax (PBT). Effective Jan. 1, the PBT on motor fuel has dropped by a whopping six-tenths of a penny, to 17.8 cents per gallon from 18.4 cents per gallon, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Read More
The highest earning school official in the Mohawk Valley raked in nearly $200,000 last year. That’s almost $20,000 more than Gov. Andrew Cuomo grosses. It’s about three times as much as Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri makes. Read More
Cuomo’s record can’t be reduced to tax, spend, and tax some more. In fact, even as he was gaining national acclaim among Democrats for his attacks on the fiscal policies of President Ronald Reagan, Cuomo also approved personal income tax cuts that were downright Reaganesque. Read More
Conservative groups said the increase in those making $1 million or more a year in New York doesn't tell the full picture. New York had the slowest growth in the country in millionaires between 2011 and 2012, said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for State Policy. Read More
New York continued to impose one of nation's highest state and local tax burdens relative to income during fiscal 2012, according to data released today by the US Census Bureau. Read More