Recent Work
The True Cost of Tuition Hikes on SUNY & CUNY Students
The Governor’s executive budget for fiscal year 2024 aims to increase funding for New York State’s public university system, in part through sharp tuition increases. For the State University of New York’s (SUNY) four university centers, the tuition increases could result in a 51 percent tuition increase over five years. Tuition hikes of this size would represent a generational shift in New York State’s higher education landscape, moving its public universities from among the most accessible in the U.S. to among the most expensive. In doing so, these hikes could jeopardize the universities’ role as engines of upward economic mobility.
Revenue Analysis: One House Budget Tax Proposals
Following the release of the State Senate and Assembly Budget Proposals, the Fiscal Policy Institute today released annual revenue estimates for the Personal Income Tax, Corporate Tax, and Corporate Tax Surcharge proposals.
Fact vs Fiction: The Truth About New York’s Corporate Tax
March 8, 2023 Most businesses do not pay the corporate tax. Only corporations pay the corporate tax, and approximately 95% of businesses are not corporations. [1] Most businesses are partnerships, LLCs, S-corporations, or sole proprietorships, none of which pay the corporate tax. The biggest corporations pay most of the tax. More than 80% of corporations in New York pay less than $1,000 in tax. [2] Around 75% of all New York corporate tax revenue comes from the 500 most profitable corporations. [3] Corporations are taxed on where they do business, not where they are [...]
FPI Statement on FY 2024 Executive Budget
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 2023 Media Contact: press@fiscalpolicy.org FPI Statement on FY 2024 Executive Budget "As we head into a possible recession, it is essential to invest in the public services that stabilize the quality of life and the cost of living for working New Yorkers" ALBANY, NY | February 1, 2023 — Fiscal Policy Institute Executive Director Nathan Gusdorf today issued the following statement: “While Governor Hochul’s budget recognizes the importance of making New York affordable and livable for working families, the budget as a whole does [...]
Housing Costs, Not Taxes, Drive Migration out of New York
The typical family that moves out of New York State saves 15 times more from lower housing costs than they do from lower taxes. Of the top twenty largest county-to-county moves out of New York State, annual mortgage costs are on average $18,300, or 34 percent, lower outside New York.
State Corporate Tax Cut Would Cost New York $1.2 Billion in Annual Revenue
If New York cuts its corporate tax rate this year, returning the rate to 6.5 percent, the impact on state revenue will be significant: The state will lose $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025. Revenue losses will begin in the last quarter of fiscal year 2024, costing the state nearly $300 million for that quarter.
Fiscal Policy Institute on State of the State
In response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023 State of the State, Fiscal Policy Institute Executive Director Nathan Gusdorf today issued the following statement: “In her State of the State, Governor Kathy Hochul laid out a wide-ranging agenda that identified many of the crises facing New Yorkers — but was silent on the need for new revenue. The Governor cannot deliver on an agenda to expand affordable housing and healthcare, strengthen our schools, and transition our state to a green economy without new funding. There is no credible vision to rebuild New York after Covid without new revenue."
November Cash Basis Report shows higher than expected Personal Income Tax receipts
The New York State Comptroller this week released its November 2022 cash basis report, which documents recent trends in state spending and revenue.
Personal Income Tax Revenue Exceeds Projections in Mid-Year Financial Plan
In its Mid-Year Financial Plan Update, the New York State Division of the Budget (DOB) reported that tax revenues continue to exceed previous projections. Personal Income Tax (PIT) receipts continue to outperform expectations — bringing in $48.95 billion — nearly $2 billion more than projected in the enacted budget financial plan and $500 million more than projected in the first quarterly update to the financial plan. Through the first half of the fiscal year, PIT receipts exceeded enacted and first quarter projections by 17 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
FPI Statement on New NYS Labor Data and Comptroller DiNapoli’s Labor Force Report
Nathan Gusdorf, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, today released the following statement: “Recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today reveal New York State added 456,000 jobs from June 2021 to June 2022, which represents a 5.1% annual increase — making New York the fifth fastest growing job market in the United States."
October Cash Basis Report shows higher than expected Personal Income Tax receipts
The New York State Comptroller this week released its October 2022 cash basis report, which documents recent trends in state spending and revenue.
Cutting Off Federal Aid to the Unemployed: States are Slamming the Recovery Effort
More than 400,000 people are poised to lose unemployment benefits this weekend as eight states withdraw early from pandemic-era programs. While $300 a week federal supplements to state benefits are not ending until September, eight states (Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming) join seventeen others who have already cut this benefit or plan to do so soon, affecting about four million recipients altogether. Supporters of these cutoffs argue that the supplements are keeping workers from returning to the workforce, leading to complaints from employers that they cannot find workers. The supplements no doubt give [...]
Economy Shows Improvement, but Employment Needs Time to Recover
Read the full report here: Economy Shows Improvement, but Employment Needs Time to Recover Several measures show signs of gradual improvement for New York residents as the state emerges from the covid-19 recession. One such indicator is the steep decline of new unemployment insurance claims, which had recently peaked in winter this year. Another such positive indicator is the continued gradual decrease in the statewide unemployment (U-3) rate, which peaked at 16.2 in April of 2020 as a result of pandemic-induced layoffs and business closures. The number of New York residents in the labor force also seems to have recovered; since [...]
FPI’s Census 2020 Hindsight in Gotham Gazette
Shamier Settle, Policy Analyst with the Fiscal Policy Institute, wrote this article in the Gotham Gazette about the census count and what the numbers mean for New York. FPI started its census work in 2018 with this report, which estimates of how much funding community based organizations would need to conduct outreach for the census count in 2020. That same year FPI also began highlighting the importance of including investments in the census in the state budget. Through their participation on the steering committee of New York Counts 2020, FPI advocated for community based organizations across the state to receive funding from the state [...]
New York State Fines and Fees Revenue Lacks Transparency, Obscures Economic Harms
New York State relies on fine, fee, and surcharge revenue to fund government operations- including the functions of the courts and state agencies providing criminal justice, public safety, and victim services. This funding is generated via a complex set of state statutes, including penal, vehicle and traffic, environmental conservation, judiciary, and finance laws and is spent through the General Fund and a bevy of State Special Revenue Funds. No one state government entity or agency is charged with comprehensively reporting on the imposition, collection, and distribution of fine, fee, and surcharge revenue. The lack of comprehensive reporting on fine, fee, [...]