February 20, 2008. FPI’s release showing the detailed impact of President Bush’s $1.7 billion cut to New York for 2008-2009.… (read more)

February 14, 2008. FPI prepared the data for this report this report from the Alliance for Quality Education – showing that the proposed cuts in foundation aid in the executive budget disproportionately hurt students from poor households. The districts outside of New York City with the highest proportion of poverty (districts in which, on average, 60 percent of students live in poverty) face 20 percent of the proposed cuts despite having only 15 percent of all students in the state. … (read more)

February 12, 2008. This presentation was prepared by Frank Mauro, executive director of FPI, for the February 12, 2008, meeting of the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief.

• Presentation: Setting the Context for Commission Deliberations
• Expanded version of the presentation
• Excerpt from the meeting transcript (Mauro testimony)

February 11, 2008. Why are property taxes so high in New York? State fiscal policies have created the bind. This brief looks at four reforms that would help – and could be funded in a way that makes the overall tax system fairer. In the meantime, a middle class circuit breaker would ease the pressure on the property tax much more effectively that the Middle Class STAR program.

On May 22, 2008, the brief was handed out at a public … (read more)

February 11, 2008. Despite the billions currently spent on economic development, we have relatively little to show for it. The appropriate guiding principle is building the middle class – thus increasing the already impressive productivity of New York workers. Logical next steps include scrapping Empire Zones, reforming IDAs and more. Brief >>… (read more)

February 11, 2008. Testimony submitted by FPI executive director Frank Mauro to the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees. Given the many signs that we are in a recession, state leaders must be especially careful about the way they close the state budget gap. Some gap-closing strategies could actually exacerbate the downturn.… (read more)

February 5, 2008. Testimony submitted by FPI senior economist Trudi Renwick to the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees. Renwick explains several important policy opportunities for New York: increase the basic welfare grant; liberalize the earned income disregard; finance the Earned Income Tax Credit from the General Fund; and take child care funding out of the Flexible Fund for Family Services (FFFS), to ensure that adequate resources go for this essential work support. Renwick includes a series of … (read more)

From February 2008 through June 2011, In reverse chronological order:

July 10, 2011. Massachusetts has spent 30 years living with a property-tax cap. By Cara Matthews, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Also in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, the Journal News (Westchester and Rockland), and the Albany Times-Union.

In Massachusetts, local governments adopt one budget that includes municipal and school spending. Voters make the decision on all overrides. Proposition 2½ is less restrictive than New York’s new cap, said Frank … (read more)

January 29, 2008. An article by James Parrott, FPI’s deputy director and chief economist, who writes monthly for Gotham Gazette’s Economy section. Article >>… (read more)

January 24, 2008. Statement of Trudi Renwick, Senior Economist Before the Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education. Such a program would contribute to a comprehensive strengthening of New York’s postsecondary education system.… (read more)