As if $420 million in annual handouts to the film and television industries wasn’t enough, New York State legislators are now proposing to give millions to the music industry and Broadway. Read More
Tag: Taxes and Spending
Over at SeeThroughNY, our team works really hard to post fresh data quickly and accurately — when it’s available, that is. Read More
New York’s State Senate spent almost $45 million during the six-month period ending last September, according to the latest data available at SeeThroughNY, where the Empire Center for Public Policy maintains public records dating back to 2007. Read More
Cuomo has, indeed, slapped a cap on local property-tax levies — a real accomplishment. But his budget wouldn’t actually “cut” them. Instead, it would shift a little more of the local tax burden to the state tax base — in the long run promoting more growth in local spending and taxes. Read More
Why are New York's property taxes so high? Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo claims it is "because we have 10,500 local governments." That would be pretty alarming -- if it were true. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, New York has 3,453 local governments, a little less than one-third the governor's number. Relative to population, that's not especially large by national standards. Read More
New York’s economic performance over the past decade was mediocre — but its future looks worse, according to the 5th annual Rich States, Poor States report, just issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Read More
My latest Newsday column looks at the complexity of the New York State’s personal income tax, the temporary income tax changes enacted last December, and Governor Cuomo’s promise (so far, unfulfilled) to appoint a commission to consider a “comprehensive overhaul” of the tax code. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders have just announced a deal on a major increase in the state income tax rates compared to what is scheduled under current law — i.e., the official breaking of the Cuomo promise not to raise taxes. Read More