Research

Should New York State voters be asked to approve a $5 billion "Clean Water, Clean Air & Green Jobs Bond Act" this year?  That question will be the focus of a public hearing the state Assembly will hold on May 27 in Albany. Read More

Well, what do you know?  Barely a month after its enactment, New York State's biggest income tax hike since 1961 has already driven away one of the Empire State's wealthiest and most productive residents.  Make that former Read More

Gov. Paterson seems to have a bad case of amnesia on the issue that once identified him most strongly with New York taxpayers’ interests. Just less than a year ago, Paterson endorsed a blue-ribbon commission’s recommendation for a broad and comprehensive cap on the growth of local school-tax levies -- the single largest factor in sky-high property taxes outside New York City. Read More

New York State's school boards are for the relatively low levels of nominal spending growth in their proposed 2009-10 budgets, which will be submitted to local voters across the state next week.  But in real terms--adjusting for the annual inflatio Read More

Annual health insurance premiums for active and retired state government employees in New York have risen $1.6 billion (128 percent) since fiscal 1999-2000 and are expected to increase by another $838 million (30 percent) over the next four years, ac Read More

, Nicole writes in today's Post.   The downstate economy will pay a steep price for what will be, at best, a temporary solution to the MTA's enormous budget shortfalls, she points out. For what taxpayers are giving up here, the Read More

To assuage reluctant lawmakers, Gov. Paterson has proposed that school districts be exempt from the new payroll tax that he wants Albany to impose on all employers, including public-sector employers, in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ser Read More