Yearly Archives: 2013

Wage wars: weighing an increase to minimum wage

February 14, 2013. Inc. Magazine says that the data is mixed, but a minimum wage increase may not be as bad for business as you think. The story written by Jeremy Quittner is excerpted below. Still, many economists and public policy advocates argue that in states where minimum wage is higher than the federal mandate, the economies fare better than in states where businesses stick to the federal minimum wage, which is currently not indexed to inflation and hence forces some workers to live below [...]

2013-03-13T10:18:25-04:00February 14th, 2013|FPI in the News|
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Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2013-2014 Executive Budget – Taxes

February 12, 2013. In this testimony, Frank Mauro made the following six points: New York State should not cut taxes while the resources provided for education and other essential services are being hit with “Gap Elimination Adjustments” and other austerity measures. New York State should not provide tax subsidies for companies that outsource jobs or otherwise reduce employment in the state.  Economic development tax breaks should only go to businesses that create and maintain jobs in the state. Loopholes and tax breaks that allow large, [...]

2013-02-12T21:07:56-05:00February 12th, 2013|State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|
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FPI on New York’s 2013-14 State Budget

February 12, 2013. We have updated the Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2013-2014 briefing book that was originally released at FPI’s 23rd annual budget briefing on January 29, and submitted testimony by Carolyn Boldiston on the implications for Human Services of the Governor’s 2013-2014 Executive Budget and testimony by Frank Mauro on Tax Issues related to the Legislature’s consideration of the Executive Budget. We have also completed an analysis, with the New York Women's Foundation, of the impact of the Governor's budget on women, children and [...]

2020-11-13T15:12:43-05:00February 12th, 2013|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|
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The NYC School Bus Workers’ Strike

February 8, 2013. One of New York City’s biggest challenges is providing a sufficient number of decent job opportunities to enable its citizens to provide for their families and offer hope of a better life for their children. The city’s pronounced income polarization is fundamentally rooted in the job market. Economic and labor market changes over the years have severely limited the availability of good jobs that provide reasonable health and retirement benefits. These changes, which threaten the survival of New York as a middle [...]

2020-11-13T14:48:29-05:00February 8th, 2013|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Testimony|
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US cities in decline embrace immigrants

February 6, 2013. The Financial Times is one of several media outlets to be interested in cities like Baltimore and Dayton that are trying to reverse population growth by creating an environment that feels welcoming to all, including immigrants. Here is the link. “To get Baltimore growing again, it makes sense to look at what made us grow in the first place: the strength of our immigrants,” says Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Democratic mayor of Baltimore, who wants to attract 10,000 new families to Baltimore over [...]

2013-02-08T18:21:52-05:00February 6th, 2013|FPI in the News|
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Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2013-2014 Executive Budget Proposal – Human Services

February 5, 2013. Submitted by Carolyn Boldiston, FPI's Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst. Testimony includes: trends in public assistance participation and poverty in New York State, a review of New York's historical utilization of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, a review of the state's maintenance-of-effort spending, and recommendations for the 2013-2014 state fiscal year.

2020-11-13T15:12:43-05:00February 5th, 2013|Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Testimony|
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Coalition and lawmakers call on Governor, Legislature to close corporate tax loopholes to level playing field for small business and restore public services

January 30, 2013. As part of a coalition of community, labor, faith, student and Occupy organizations, the Fiscal Policy Institute has launched a campaign to bring fairness and transparency to New York’s corporate tax system, ending costly loopholes that cost taxpayers and businesses dearly. The coalition is calling on Governor Cuomo and the Legislature to close a series of unfair corporate tax loopholes, raising nearly $1billion for this year’s state budget and leveling the playing field between large out-of-state multinational corporations and New York based [...]

2013-04-15T16:49:43-04:00January 30th, 2013|Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|
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Growing number of states look at minimum wage hike

January 29, 2013. A USA today article says that nearly half the states have increased their minimum wage this year or are considering plans to hike it as the economy transitions from recession to a stronger recovery. The state push could encourage Washington to re-evaluate the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, says James Parrott, a director and chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, a non-partisan New York research and education organization.

2013-01-29T22:41:25-05:00January 29th, 2013|FPI in the News|
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Raising New York’s Minimum Wage: The Economic Benefits and Demographic Impact of Increasing New York’s Minimum Wage to $8.75 per Hour

January 28, 2013. A minimum wage increase included in Governor Cuomo’s budget proposal, released last Tuesday, would raise the paychecks of over 1.5 million low-paid New Yorkers, according to a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project. The Governor’s proposal would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 per hour on July 1, 2013, and the increased wages would generate more than $1 billion in new consumer spending, supporting the creation of 7,300 new full-time jobs across [...]

2020-11-13T14:58:53-05:00January 28th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|
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Dream Act would provide aid to illegal immigrants

January 21, 2013. The Utica Observer-Dispatch carries an AP story about the New York State DREAM Act, which would allow qualified undocumented college students to access the state's Tuition Assistance Program. The measure seems to be gaining momentum in Albany. Last year, FPI undertook to analyze the costs and benefits of the proposal, and the estimated costs are cited in this article.

2013-01-29T23:10:17-05:00January 21st, 2013|FPI in the News|
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Fiscal Policy Institute’s Mauro to step down

January 7, 2013. Frank Mauro will be stepping down as FPI's Executive Director at the end of New York’s 2013 Legislative session. Mauro has long been one of Albany’s best known experts on budget and public policy issues from his work at FPI and earlier as Secretary of the NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee, director of Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink’s Program Development Group, director of research for the last major revision of the New York City Charter, and Deputy Director of the Rockefeller Institute [...]

2013-01-07T16:05:26-05:00January 7th, 2013|Press Releases, Tax & Budget|
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