On the heels of a strong investment return in 2017, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli just announced a slight reduction in taxpayer-funded pension rates for the state and its local governments. Read More
Research
The Smart Schools grant-making process has been sluggish and haphazard, reflecting the program’s overly broad standards and goals. Read More
New York pols need to recognize that it's in their own interest to pay more attention to these commuters, if only to keep their tax payments flowing smoothly. At the very least, that means giving a higher priority to infrastructure improvements that benefit taxpayers on both sides of the Hudson. Read More
This month’s setbacks for New York’s healthcare system were largely driven by flaws in the ACA, not by attacks on the law from President Trump or Republicans in Congress. Read More
With some minor variations, the state Labor Department's jobs report for July is almost a repeat of the previous month's numbers. Read More
Mayor Bill de Blasio says the wealthiest New Yorkers should "chip in a little extra"—a mere $800 million in higher income taxes, or an average of $25,000 per affected household—to pay for subway improvements and transit fare subsidies. But given Washington's tax reform agenda, de Blasio's latest soak-the-rich tax hike proposal is badly timed. Read More
The scheduled return of an Obamacare tax on insurance premiums in 2018 would cost New Yorkers $1.1 billion in the first year, according to an industry-sponsored report published this week. Read More
New York State's unfunded liability for other post-employment benefits (OPEB) grew to $87.3 billion in fiscal 2017, a $9.4 billion increase over the previous year, according to a disclosure in the state Budget Division's just-released Financial Plan Update for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Read More
A technical change in how Medicare compensates hospitals for treating the poor and uninsured has drawn a heated response from Governor Andrew Cuomo that demands clarification. Read More
New York’s hospitals are lagging the nation in the push to reduce readmission rates, newly released federal data show. Read More
President Trump last week suggested that economically struggling upstate New York residents should be willing to move to areas with better job prospects. This wasn’t exactly an original or outrageous idea — yet it still managed to ruffle feathers among defensive New York officials. Read More
If President Trump follows through on a threat to halt Obamacare’s “cost-sharing reduction” program, New York has more to lose than almost any other state. Read More