Analysis: Immigrant Status Change Could Mean Millions in Tax Revenue for NY

July 9, 2013. A news article in Newsday covers the release of the new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Fiscal Policy Institute regarding immigration status change and possible tax revenue for states. David Dyssegaard Kallick, immigration research director at the Fiscal Policy Institute, said there is no better alternative than for all those immigrants to become taxpayers. "As long as we make sure we don't create a new undocumented population, legalizing the people already here is the right thing to do," [...]

2020-10-27T13:07:08-04:00July 9th, 2013|FPI in the News, Tax Policy|

“Tax-Free NY” is now “Start-Up NY” – Still Bad Tax Policy, Still Bad Economic Development Policy

July 9, 2013. Despite the concerns raised by economists across the political spectrum, a somewhat revised version (A. 8113 and S. 5903) of Governor Cuomo’s “Tax-Free New York” proposal was introduced on June 20, 2013, passed by both houses of the Legislature on June 21, 2013, and signed into law by the Governor on June 24, 2013. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s June 11, 2013 brief on the original proposal concluded that that it was bad tax policy and bad economic development policy. Now recast at [...]

Beyond Balance: Forward-Looking Budget Priorities for New York City

July 9, 2013. All three of New York City’s citywide elected offices will have new faces in 2014. Mayor Michael Bloomberg cannot run for re-election because of the city’s term limits law, while Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu are both running for Mayor rather than seeking re-election to their current offices. As voters consider a large field of mayoral candidates, as well as contenders for the other two citywide offices, the five borough presidencies and the 51 seats in the City [...]

WNYC Radio Morning Edition-Immigration Reform & Labor Standards

July 2, 2013. WNYC's Morning Edition featured a story about immigration reform, with an emphasis on how reform by itself will not prevent workers from being paid off the books. “My view would be that in conjunction with immigration reform you also need to have a stepping up of labor enforcement standards … to make sure people are not being paid off-the-books,” said David Kallick, a senior fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute. Kallick says labor departments need to audit employers regularly to ensure they’re [...]

2013-07-02T14:51:12-04:00July 2nd, 2013|FPI in the News|

5 Questions for David Kallick, Immigration Expert

July 1, 2013. The Business Review interviews David Dyssegaard Kallick of FPI about the likely economic effects of immigration reform. To me, it is obvious that reform would be good for the economy, for the same reasons that having a broken immigration system is bad for the economy. If everyone living in the U.S. had legal status it would mean more people paying taxes, more people getting services, more people paying into, and covered by, social insurance programs.

2013-07-02T14:46:57-04:00July 1st, 2013|FPI in the News|

Search for a new FPI executive director

July 1, 2013. The Fiscal Policy Institute seeks an Executive Director to build on an exceptional twenty-two year record of providing high quality research, analysis, and coalition building in support of progressive fiscal and economic policies that benefit all New Yorkers. The Executive Director, based in Albany, New York,  will be responsible for overall leadership of the organization, as well as leading, coordinating, and implementing its tax, budget and policy analysis work. The ED will oversee a staff currently consisting of 6-8 people, be a [...]

2013-08-20T14:11:39-04:00July 1st, 2013|Blog|

For True Immigration Reform, Hire Labor Inspectors, Not Border Guards (A Newsday Op-Ed)

June 27, 2013. A Newsday op-ed by David Dyssegaard Kallick stresses the need for labor standards enforcement as part of comprehensive immigration reform. Paying people off the books is, of course, illegal. But does it happen? We know it does. The good news is that there's no great mystery about how to stop it. Labor departments -- at the state and federal level -- are responsible for enforcing workplace standards. They are the ones who can ensure that employers are paying employees on the books, [...]

2013-07-18T15:11:54-04:00June 28th, 2013|Letters, Migration|

The Rise of the New Baltimoreans

June 28, 2013. In the Next American City Series, a piece on Baltimore focuses on the role of immigrants in the city's economy. “You want to create a context that’s welcoming to everyone,” says Kallick, “and a culture that’s welcoming to everyone seems particularly welcoming to immigrants.” A lowered likelihood of being aggressively questioned for immigration status, goes the thinking, might appeal to an immigrant in perfect compliance with the law as much as it might to an undocumented new arrival. Under this approach, a [...]

2013-06-28T17:35:20-04:00June 28th, 2013|FPI in the News|

Want Smarter Immigration Enforcement? Start at the Workplace, Not the Border

June 26, 2013. On his blog, and in the Huffington Post, Jared Bernstein echoed the importance of labor standards enforcement as a key part of making immigration reform work, as David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of FPI's Immigration Research Initiative, had stressed in an op-ed piece in Newsday. At this point, a large minority (Kallick says “as many as 45%”) of the undocumented immigrants already here entered legally and overstayed their visas.  As far as they’re concerned, border security shuts the barn door after the horse [...]

2013-07-02T14:38:17-04:00June 28th, 2013|FPI in the News|

Immigration Reform’s ‘Surge’: The Politics Works, but Will the Policy?

June 26, 2013. The Christian Science Monitor ran a story, also reprised in The Alaska Dispatch, about the massive spending on border security added to the Senate bill in its final days to gain Republican votes. The article quotes FPI David Dyssegaard Kallick on a more productive way to use enforcement dollars. Or how about boosting the ranks of federal and state labor inspectors, suggests David Kallick of the liberal Fiscal Policy Institute. Such reinforcements not only would make sure the undocumented aren’t working off the [...]

2013-07-18T15:26:24-04:00June 26th, 2013|FPI in the News|

The City Budget Should be a Force for Good

June 24, 2013. In an Op Ed, “The City Budget Should Be a Force for Good,” which was recently published by The Chief-Leader, FPI’s Deputy Director and Chief Economist James Parrott argues that the annual budget process should be about planning for the future and not just managing expenditures. He identifies and discusses four areas where the budget can be used to produce meaningful outcomes for all New Yorkers. The city needs to re-think the social-safety net and policies to combat poverty. City resources should [...]

2013-07-09T16:17:25-04:00June 24th, 2013|FPI in the News|

Gannett News Service article on “Tax-Free New York” plan cites FPI report

June 23, 2013.  A Gannett News Service article on the NYS legislature’s adoption of a somewhat revised version of Governor Cuomo’s “Tax-Free New York” quotes from FPI’s recent report on this proposal on this proposal: "New York State’s past experience with geographically-targeted business tax incentives should raise huge red flags regarding the efficacy of the proposal as an economic development strategy,” according to a report last week from the Fiscal Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank. The article by Gannett’s Albany Bureau Chief Joe Spector [...]

2013-07-09T14:30:42-04:00June 23rd, 2013|FPI in the News|

Report: Immigration Reform Will Create A More Productive Economy

June 19, 2013. Von Diaz reports on FPI's analysis of the economic effects of immigration reform. The FPI report perhaps isn’t the most provocative to come out in recent months, but it takes a balanced approach. Kallick doesn’t claim that legalizing undocumented immigrants will be the saving grace of the struggling U.S. economy. Rather, Kallick describes a measured approach, which he believes could lead to greater economic stability. “I think that people sometimes exaggerate the potential consequences – positive or negative,” Kallick says. “I hope people [...]

2013-07-09T15:30:50-04:00June 19th, 2013|FPI in the News|

Reflejos – on FPI’s recent immigration report

June 16, 2013. A story by Reflejos on the FPI report about the economic impact of immigration reform. The economic benefits of immigration reform should not be overstated. This would be a big benefit for undocumented immigrants, but would have modest benefits for the overall economy—we’re talking, after all, about just five percent of the overall labor force. But while the benefits should not be exaggerated, they are very real. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put it, “bringing millions [...]

2013-07-09T15:11:28-04:00June 16th, 2013|FPI in the News|

Fiscal Policy Institute Makes Strong Economic Argument for Reform

June 14, 2013. The blog Redefining Welcome interviews David Dyssegaard Kallick about FPI's recent report on immigration. "Legalization is the right thing to do, not least because it is our only practical option. You simply can’t deport 11 million people. But, I think it’s important to know that this will also be good for the American economy. I wouldn’t overstate the gains. Undocumented immigrants make up five percent of the country’s labor force—that’s enough to matter, but not enough to dramatically swing the economy one [...]

2013-07-09T15:10:14-04:00June 14th, 2013|FPI in the News|
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