Blog

The State Assembly has passed a souped-up bill to extend and expand rent regulations. Last week, The Torch presented some numbers on regulated renters' income. Today's short installment: What does the rent pay for? It costs $855 each month in operating costs... Read More

Have you filed your New York personal income taxes for 2010? If so, you've just been reminded once again of how complex and confusing our state tax code has become. Read More

New York State’s political campaign contribution limits automatically are "indexed" to rise with inflation in the years following general elections. But the state's personal income tax brackets, exemptions and standard deductions are not adjusted... Read More

Albany's rent wars are heating up, as E.J. wrote earlier this week. If rent regulation -- which caps annual price increases for half of New York City's rental housing -- is supposed to help the poor, it's not efficient at this job... Read More

We’ve been calling on the state Legislature to implement a policy of “proactive disclosure” of public information – and the Niskayuna Central School District has just helped bolster our case. Recently, a local taxpayer questioned the size of increases in administrative salaries. She based her analysis on... Read More

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has just announced a tentative contract agreement with one of the state's smaller unions, including some potentially significant labor concessions that could set a pattern for achieving the $450 million in workforce savings assumed... Read More

Government entities are the six largest employers in New York City, Crain's NY Business reports in its latest annual employer ranking. Some are suggesting that this means the city's economic recovery hinges on preserving government jobs. They're wrong. Read More

The tenant household income threshold at which a landlord could initiate "luxury decontrol" of a New York City apartment would be raised to $300,000 under rent regulation extender bills passed by the state Assembly yesterday. This is well above... Read More

Oblivious to exploding pension costs and the looming iceberg of retiree health care obligations, Albany lawmakers have introduced 55 bills that would "enhance the pension benefits of New York’s public employees, grant costly protections to retiree... Read More

The bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000 triggered an explosion in taxpayer-funded contributions to New York City's pension funds. But a new report from Comptroller John Liu shows that roughly half of the pension cost run-up in the last decade... Read More

Today's Buffalo News reports that Gov. Cuomo is signaling a willingness to water down his property tax cap proposal. Most alarmingly, the News says Cuomo "privately told lawmakers this week that the list of expenses exempt from any limit probably will... Read More