Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 19, 2020. Professor Fred Floss, a Senior Fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute, Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at Buffalo State and a member of Buffalo’s Fiscal Control Board, discussed Buffalo's fiscal situation with Capital Tonight host Susan Arbetter. "According to a new study published in the September edition of the National Tax Journal, cities in upstate New York, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, are the most financially distressed cities in the nation. One reason why, according to Floss, is that all three rely [...]

August 19, 2020. Spectrum News With New York continuing to face a staggering revenue shortfall, an updated pied-à-terre tax proposal sponsored by Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Senator Brad Hoylman is receiving renewed interest. "Jonas Shaende, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, told Law360 that one of the reasonable criticisms made last year about the bill was its application of market valuation to co-ops that never had that valuation method applied to them before. He said the changes account for that by applying the valuation [...]

August 12, 2020 "New York should pass a so-called mark-to-market tax bill to raise $5.5 billion annually and help the state during its post-pandemic recovery, a report by the left-leaning Fiscal Policy Institute said Wednesday. The labor-backed policy group endorsed the mark-to-market tax proposal as New York faces a $14 billion revenue shortfall and estimated 20% cuts to education, hospitals, local governments and nonprofits. While state Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, have been pushing federal lawmakers to provide aid to states to help fill [...]

August 8, 2020. Editorial by LIHerald.com appears in full below: "President Trump claimed last week that he is protecting suburbanites from low-income housing projects, tweeting on July 29: "I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood . . .” Clearly, Trump is out of touch with suburban America. In Nassau County, no new low-income housing has been built for decades. [...]

August 6, 2020 - Spectrum News New York State faces cuts to public programs and services due to this year's unprecedented revenue shortfall. While awaiting needed federal action, advocates call for raising state revenue. The sweeping cuts threatened by Governor Cuomo would devastate the very people hit hardest by the pandemic and its economic fallout. The state must get the economic engine of New York running while awaiting essential federal funding," said Ron Deutsch, the executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute."That means supporting, rather [...]