Mayor Bloomberg will seek to revive New York City's commuter tax, his budget director the City Council yesterday. First enacted in 1966, the tax was repealed by the state Legislature and then-Governor Pataki in 1999, over the loud objections of ci Read More
But New York City, which Mayor Bloomberg once likened to a "," will do the opposite if it follows through with the mayor's idea to raise income and sales taxes early next year. Read More
In a column today, Times columnist David Brooks contrasts the auto sector with the financial sector. The column illustrates why the recovery of the financial sector will be less straightforward and more difficult than the recovery of any oth Read More
The cost of New York State's Medicaid program, which already spends twice as much per recipient as the national average, will still be rising at a double-digit pace if the Legislature enacts the latest round of mid-year "cuts" proposed by Governor Pa Read More
The most noteworthy aspect of Gov. Pater son's news conference yesterday wasn't the detailed breakdown of his $2 billion in proposed changes to close a projected shortfall in the current state budget. Read More
"The current global financial market crisis could have serious implications for New York’s local governments if access to the credit markets remains constrained," says a issued today by the office of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Read More
My in today's New York Post gives Governor Paterson credit for his continuing "straight talk" on budget issues. As for the , on the other hand: Unfortunately, for all the doomsday headlines and special-interest caterwauling Read More
India's current plight shows why it's not a good idea for any local or state government in America to think it can depend on private-public partnerships to fund its infrastructure construction projects once it's out of municipal-borrowing capacity (o Read More
Today's Times has an about the city's efforts to lure more of the biotech industry to New York by subsidizing real estate in Brooklyn and Manhattan. It inadvertently makes the case for across-the-board tax cuts. Read More
Governor Paterson will propose a mid-year cut in state aid to public schools as part of a $2 billion budget reduction package to be released tomorrow. Here's a chart that provides some perspective on the budgetary debate ahead: [caption id="at Read More
The “people’s right to know” is a hollow concept when government can withhold vital information until it is too late for the people’s voice to be heard. Read More
The Wall Street Journal has run my op-ed on the risks New York City faces in its approach to fiscal and economic problems. The thesis is that the city's main economic engine -- Wall Street and the financial-services industry -- cold be at th Read More