Research

Gov. Paterson came into office with a different attitude. David Paterson took office as governor of New York on March 17, 2008 -- the day Bear Stearns collapsed. He spent the following nine months warning of worse things to come. Read More

With enactment of the 2009-10 New York State budget, "New York will leapfrog New Jersey to claim the mantle of America's worst tax code for business." Read More

How big is the spending increase in the newly adopted New York State budget?   How does it compare to previous spending trends?  One of the many glaring shortcomings of the state budget process is that it is not possible to answer such questions w Read More

[See update at end of item.] Buried in one of the now pending in Albany is what looks like a $1 billion federal stimulus aid slush fund, which could be "suballocated" by the governor to "to any state department, agency or public authorit Read More

New York's sinking economy still hasn't hit bottom. The state bud get gap continues to grow as tax revenues collapse into a black hole the size of Wall Street Read More

Ratings agency Moody's has put the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a sort of purgatory, noting (but more diplomatically than I will) that Albany's utter failure to solve a relatively simple problem "puts the MTA on an operating p Read More

Supporters of a massive increase in New York State’s marginal income tax rates are crowing over an in today’s New York Times, headlined “Taxes Not Seen as Making the Rich Flee New York.”  The article (in which I’m quoted) focuses Read More