Reports

Compare the taxes, spending and debt of local governments across New York State. Read More

There has been a sharp and growing economic divide between upstate and downstate. Read More

Unearthed videos of 1982 Cuomo-Lehrman debates: An example of how much (and, in some ways, how little) has changed in NY politics over the intervening decades. Read More

When public schools across the Empire State open their doors for 2018-19, pupil enrollment will be at its lowest level in nearly 30 years. Read More

Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest element of most municipal budgets. Read More

This issue brief explores the financial considerations and policy challenges associated with eliminating the local Medicaid share and reviews the options for implementing a state takeover. Read More

Marking the Taylor Law's 50th anniversary, this paper reviews the background of the law and highlights provisions and precedents in need of state legislative reform. Read More

This report finds no evidence that ownership restrictions have produced a public benefit in terms of the quality, cost or accessibility of hospital care. Read More

Nearly half of the 669 school districts seeking voter approval for budgets on Tuesday, May 15 are presenting spending plans that would increase property taxes as high as the 2011 property tax cap law allows, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Benchmarking NY uses data from the state comptroller’s office to calculate effective tax rates–combined county, municipal and school taxes as a percent of market value–for thousands of localities across the state during 2017, excluding only New York City and Nassau County. Read More

Nearly two-thirds of New York State’s tax receipts are now generated by the personal income tax, or PIT. As a result, the state is very heavily reliant on highest-earning 1 percent of New York taxpayers—whose effective income tax rates have increased sharply under the new federal tax law capping state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Read More

This report explores recent trends in New York’s Medicaid drug spending, the forces behind them, and how they fit into the national context. Read More