Research

With a pen stroke last week, Gov. Cuomo issued an executive order establishing a New York Health Benefit Exchange to comply with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare. Read More

New York State, its local governments and its public authorities have promised their employees well over $200 billion in future retiree health benefits that no money is set aside to pay for, as we documented in our “Iceberg Ahead” report in late 2010. This unfunded liability translates into an enormous and growing debt that current and past generations of taxpayers have pushed onto future generations. Read More

Manhattan beep and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer says he has a "bold plan" for the MTA. But beneath the fancy talk of an "infrastructure bank" and "dedicated revenue," it's the same old plan: more taxes. Read More

My latest Newsday column looks at the complexity of the New York State’s personal income tax, the temporary income tax changes enacted last December, and Governor Cuomo’s promise (so far, unfulfilled) to appoint a commission to consider a “comprehensive overhaul” of the tax code. Read More

'The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax," Albert Einstein once complained to his accountant. Non-geniuses scrambling to meet next week's Tax Day deadline would surely agree. Read More

New York’s economic performance over the past decade was mediocre — but its future looks worse, according to the 5th annual Rich States, Poor States report, just issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Read More

A January report by United NY, the Center for Working Families, and the Strong Economy for All Coalition slamming the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for its “expensive” and “risky” swap deals is getting new attention this week. Read More

If you think driving in New York is an unusually jarring experience, you are not imagining things. As measured by federal statistics, highway and bridge conditions in the Empire State are among the worst in the country. Read More

The Charlotte Valley School District in Delaware County had a tough employment situation on their hands until just last week. Former building principal Edgar Whaley had been a focus of controversy — going back at least a year. But that’s all settled now, thanks to a secret, lucrative contract settlement passed by the school’s board of education late last week. Read More

The Cuomo administration’s Medicaid-reform strategy is riskier than most New Yorkers realize in good part because it doesn’t reform the Empire State’s longstanding practice of seeking to grab every federal Medicaid dollar it can get. Read More

The agreed upon fiscal year 2012-13 state budget contains two smart policy initiatives that both save money and happen to be good public policy: a state takeover of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) state supplement payment and enactment of a new close to home initiative for low and limited risk youthful offenders. Read More

There was an air of anticlimax to the state budget deal announced this week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislative leaders. Read More