Gov. Cuomo is proposing the most significant reform and reduction of New York’s estate tax in 17 years. This is a big reason why public employee unions and their allied advocacy groups are now claiming that Cuomo’s tax agenda favors “millionaires and billionaires.” Read More
New York is now one of only 14 states still imposing any tax on estates — the cash, land, houses, financial assets and other property left by deceased residents. The state estate tax, also called the "death tax," is triggered once assets exceed $1 million. By contrast, the federal government only taxes estates worth more than $5.34 million, a figure that will rise with inflation every year. Read More
New York is one of only 14 states that still impose an estate tax. The new state budget moves a big step towards repeal—but more needs to be done to avoid chasing away wealth. Read More
As noted by the Empire Center for Public Policy, the median salary for teachers in Western New York was $62,697, compared with $72,990 statewide. Read More
The Empire Center has updated the state government payroll section on SeeThroughNY.net, its government transparency website, to include payroll for 2013, the fiscally conservative group announced today. The database on SeeThroughNY.net includes the names, titles, base salary rates and total pay of more than 287,000 state workers in the executive, legislative or judicial branches at any time during the 2013 calendar year. Read More
With spring training around the corner, let’s compare village dissolution to baseball.Since 1921, 47 village governments have dissolved, but there has been a rise in the number that have tried in recent years—with limited success, a report today found. Read More
E.J. McMahon, head of the Empire Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit Albany think tank that promotes free market principles, questioned whether municipalities will go through the political headaches of consolidating districts in exchange for a short-term, temporary tax freeze. Read More
Shared services, dissolution and mergers remain viable options for taxpayers and elected officials facing challenging fiscal environments and historically high taxes Read More