As the $121 billion state budget was heading toward passage late last week, some observers jumped to the conclusion that Gov. Spitzer had conceded too much, too soon in his first negotiations with the Legislature. Read More
Tag: Taxes and Spending
State Funds spending would rise by about 8.6 percent under the $121 billion budget enacted by the Legislature on March 31 and April 1, according to preliminary estimates. As shown below, this would rank among the top 10 budget increases in this categ Read More
Governor Spitzer's first Executive Budget called for targeted spending restraint in one major program area -- Medicaid -- along with significantly higher expenditures in many other areas, especially education. It also featured an expansion of state-s Read More
The expansion of property tax rebates in the new state budget has once again raised the question of whether the rebate is effectively taxable on federal returns. The answer is yes -- but only for those New Yorkers who claim itemized deductions for Read More
The vagaries of the calendar have extended this year's income-tax filing deadlines to midnight tomorrow, April 17. New Yorkers, especially, can use the extra time to cope with their state's increasingly complex and confusing tax code. Read More
The state Assembly has issued an official list of 2007-08 "Legislative Initiatives" -- a.k.a. member items, or pork-barrel spending. The list can be downloaded . For the first time in a regular state budget cycle, the list discloses the names of s Read More
New York’s recently enacted state budget for 2007-08 includes more than $219 million in appropriations for the state Legislature. At that rate, the New York State Legislature now costs more than $1 million per member — making it one of the best-paid and most expensive legislative bodies in the nation. Read More
E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, was interviewed by Oswego public radio station WRVO on the subject of Gov. Spitzer's executive order paving the way for powerful public employee unions to organize home-based, government- Read More