Tag: Taxes and Spending

Whatever the outcomes of Tuesday's primaries, most mayors who win a new term in cities across the state will face a similar big challenge - how to get their municipalities back on secure financial footing. The next political leaders of New York City, smaller cities upstate , and even large suburban counties like Nassau County, will all face a big test once they take office- how to solve mounting fiscal difficulties. EJ McMahon, with the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank, says the recession, which began five years ago this week, has not caused the budget problems plaguing many of New York’s municipalities, but rather has worsened already existing structural weaknesses. Read More

Western New Yorkers don’t have to look far to find reasons to support an environmental upgrade plan such as the one proposed last week by State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, R-Buffalo. Read More

Environmentalists urged the New York Assembly at a hearing Friday to approve $5 billion bonding for upgrades and repairs to water and sewage systems, flood control projects and curbing air pollution. Read More

From Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to Senate Republicans to business groups, a drumbeat for election-year tax cuts is underway. Advocates urged state lawmakers Wednesday to reduce broad-based taxes for all New Yorkers next year instead of continuing a pattern of politically targeted tax cuts. Read More

The upper crust of local-government employees tends to wear uniforms and carry badges, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank that crunched public payrolls for cities, counties, towns and villages in New York. Sixteen police officers, all working downstate, dominated the list of New York’s 20 best-paid local employees in 2012-13. Two more on the list were Westchester County corrections officers. All of the top 20 earned more than $250,000 for the year, the Empire Center said... Read More

Tax reform is long overdue for New York and the state’s high taxes can no longer be ignored, said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for NY Policy. McMahon said a drop in the state’s corporate and income taxes are needed to help boost the business climate in New York and keep companies in the state. Read More

Business groups as well as progressive social service groups told New York officials they must put an end to decades of targeted, often politically fueled tax breaks and, instead, fairly cut taxes to turn around one of the country's worst business climates. Read More

At the start of Wednesday's Senate hearing on potential reforms to state tax policy, GOP Sen.Carl Marcellino said he was "hoping to hear creative ideas," rather than the same old litany of how bad our taxes are. As it turned out, there was a bit of both... Read More