Preliminary Oral Comments of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on the Allocation of Carbon Dioxide Allowances Pursuant to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Cap-and-Trade Program
May 2, 2006. The comments below were delivered in Hartford, CT, by New York State Assistant Attorney General J. Jared Snyder. In general, the Attorney General's office supports the carbon dioxide emission reduction program embodied in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) model rule. Global warming is undoubtedly the most significant environmental problem facing America today and the RGGI cap-and-trade program is a good first step to reducing emissions from power plants, one of the two main sources of CO2 emissions in the northeastern states. Let us be perfectly clear on one point however: while it is a good first [...]
COMIDA Isn’t Spanish for Free Lunch
April 21, 2006. A report issued by Rochester's Metro Justice and the Initiative for Development Accountability examining performance of the IDA system in Monroe County using data submitted by the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) for the years 2002, 2003, 2004.
Who Pays the Individual AMT
March 22, 2006. State by state estimates from the Citizens for Tax Justice.
Millionaires Urge Legislature to Keep Estate Tax
March 20, 2006. Forty-six wealthy New Yorkers placed a full-page ad in the March 20, 2006, Legislative Gazette calling for New York State to keep its estate tax. In their open letter to the members of the State Legislature, the millionaires said that keeping the estate tax is essential to New York having a fair tax system.
Ohio’s Investment Tax Credit and the Commerce Clause
March 2006. In a landmark decision issued on September 2, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the State of Ohio's investment tax credit violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Rather than immediately appealing this decision to the US Supreme Court, DaimlerChrysler asked the Sixth Circuit to take the unusual step of rehearing the the case en banc. The Sixth Circuit subsequently declined this request and DaimlerChrysler then asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the Sixth Circuit's decision. That request was granted and DaimlerChrysler et al. filed their briefs with [...]
Introduction to the Federal Budget Process
January 17, 2006. Policy basics from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - first written in 2003, and updated regularly.
Comments by Frank J. Mauro on the Budget Reform Constitutional Amendments
October 17, 2005. The comments below were presented by Frank Mauro at a press conference today at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, New York. These comments were based on his September 1, 2005, analysis of the budget reform constitutional amendments. The Fiscal Policy Institute, as an organization, has not taken a position in support of or in opposition to the proposal on the November 8, 2005, ballot. These are the views of Frank Mauro and not those of the Fiscal Policy Institute. The current provisions of the State Constitution, as they have been interpreted by the Court of Appeals, [...]
Fair Taxes: The Key to Better Schools
Fall 2005. A training curriculum prepared by the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York and the Fiscal Policy Institute.
In Manhattan, Poor Make 2¢ for Each Dollar to the Rich
September 4, 2005. Sam Roberts cites FPI's report The State of Working New York City 2005 in his New York Times story on income inequality in New York City. Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue is only about 60 blocks from the Wagner Houses in East Harlem, but they might as well be light years apart. They epitomize the highest- and lowest-earning census tracts in Manhattan, where the disparity between rich and poor is now greater than in any other county in the country. That finding, in an analysis conducted for The New York Times, dovetails with other new regional economic [...]
The “Single Sales Factor” Formula for State Corporate Taxes
September 1, 2005. A boon to New York economic development or a costly giveaway? You be the judge. This report by Michael Mazerov of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities is an update of a study first published March 27, 2001. Report >>
The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation
July 21, 2005. A new book by Greg LeRoy, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Groups Urge Lawmakers to Make Industrial Development Agencies More Accountable, More Transparent and Less Corrupt
June 15, 2005. Group press release, plus eight simple ways to reform IDAs: Industrial Development Agencies Law Due to Sunset on June 30, 2005 Groups Call Upon Legislature and Governor to Make Real Changes That Will Make The Program More Accountable, More Transparent and Less Corrupt Over 100 community, religious, education, health care, labor and human services organizations from throughout New York State have endorsed a joint statement of principles to reform the state's Industrial Development Agency laws. The joint statement was issued today at a press conference at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. Portions of NYS's Industrial Development [...]
Organizations Join Together to Tell Governor that his Vetoes Will Hurt
September 22, 2004. Diverse organizations urge the Legislature to override the vetoes and restore the budget they have already passed. Group press release Preliminary Analysis of 2004-2005 Budget, After Vetoes List of speakers TANF "SURPLUS" SFY 2004-05 Housing and Veterans Disability Advocacy Program Libraries Youth Programs Child Health Plus
New Jersey increases its top income tax rate
July 2004. In a new law approved on June 28, 2004, New Jersey increased its top income tax rate for tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2004, from 6.37% on the portion of taxable income above $75,000 for single individuals and $150,000 for married couples to 8.97% on the portion of taxable income above $500,000 regardless of filing status. This represents a significant shift in the traditional relationship between the top income tax rates in New York and New Jersey. For the first time in history, the top New Jersey rates are now substantially higher than the top New [...]
Rethinking Growth Strategies: How State and Local Taxes and Services Affect Economic Development
March 19, 2004. A new book by Robert G. Lynch from by the Economic Policy Institute. Lynch is Chair of the Economics Department at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and former chair of the Economics Department at SUNY Cortland. Executive Summary Creating jobs and growing the economy are top priorities for state and local officials. Their tools of choice to achieve these goals may, however, be the least effective among those available to them. Too often public officeholders first embrace lowering taxes and creating tax incentives as their chief economic development tools, with public investment usually ranking as a distant [...]
New York Impact Analysis: Effects of 2004 Congressional Budget Resolution
April 23, 2003. Due to the federal tax and budget agreement, New York will suffer $1.56 billion in cuts to key programs over ten years to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy, according to this report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Institute for America's Future. Groups call on House to join Senate in passing fiscal relief for the states; joint statement from FPI and New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness releasing new EPI/Institute for America's Future report
New York State and Local Taxes in 2002
January 2003. From the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, this chart and table show the impact of state and local taxes (by type of tax, in total before taking federal deductibility into consideration, and in total after taking federal deductibility into consideration) on the family incomes of non-elderly New Yorkers broken down into seven income categories, ranging from the bottom 20% (taxpayers with incomes of less than $15,000) to the top 1% (taxpayers with incomes above $634,000). (PDF)
The State of Our Schools: The Effect of the “Bare-Bones” Budget on New York School Districts
January 8, 2002. The Fiscal Policy Institute did the data analysis for this new report from the Alliance for Quality Education and the Public Policy and Education Fund. It shows that 81% of New York State's school children are in school districts that are getting less state aid per pupil this year than last year, when adjusted for inflation. Also see: Impact of the 2001-2002 Bare Bones Budget County by County. Update: April 17, 2002.
Budget Cuts vs. Tax Increases – What’s Better for the State’s Economy?
November 6, 2001. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a new paper, Budget Cuts vs. Tax Increases at the State Level: Is One More Counter-Productive than the Other During a Recession? By Joseph Stiglitz, Professor of Economics at Columbia University and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Peter Orszag of the Brooking Institute. Read the Paper >>
Rebuilding with a Spotlight on the Poor
November 5, 2001. Comments on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, from the Rebuilding with a Spotlight on the Poor Coalition, c/o MFY Legal Services, Inc., 299 Broadway, 4th floor, New York, New York 10007. We are writing on behalf of the Rebuilding with a Spotlight on the Poor Coalition to comment on your draft assistance plan for individuals. The Coalition is a broad-based coalition of Lower Manhattan community groups and citywide advocacy organizations which has come together to address the devastation caused by the September 11th attacks on the lives of working and lower-income New Yorkers, especially in Lower Manhattan [...]
Safety net urged for state’s poor
May 16, 2001. An article by Erika Rosenberg, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, related to a briefing prepared by the Campaign for the Empire State Jobs Program. New York needs a $190 million program to help thousands of families approaching the five-year time limit for receiving welfare benefits, advocates for the poor said yesterday. About 63,000 welfare cases -- including 2,095 in Monroe County -- are expected to hit a federal time limit in December, according to the latest state figures. The federal government imposed a lifetime limit of five years on welfare as part of reforms enacted in 1996. At [...]