Press Release: Spotlight on New York’s Essential Workers
April 8, 2020 Overlooked, Underpaid and Indispensible Read the report: https://fiscalpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Essential-Workers-Brief-Final.pdf (Albany, NY) Today the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) released a new report spotlighting New York's essential workers who are on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the new analysis, there are 2.2 million “essential workers” in New York State. Twenty-two percent of these essential workers support their families on low incomes, with family incomes of less than 200 percent of the poverty level. Statement from David Dyssegaard Kallick, Deputy Director, Fiscal Policy Institute: “The pandemic has brought some long-overdue recognition to the workers that we rely on every day to support us. [...]
NY’s Best Prescription? An Accurate Census Count
While the coronavirus is upending our daily lives, we must not let this public health crisis derail our state’s census participation. New York must have an accurate count because it will affect our lives for the next 10 years - including the resources our state has to combat the next health threat or climate crisis. All New Yorkers should complete a census form - either by mail, phone, or online. More information on completing the census is available from the Census Bureau. Learn more by reading FPI's new brief An Accurate Census Count is Our Best Prescription as well as Funding A [...]
Federal and State Relief Should Help All: Immigrants Should Not Be Left Behind
During this time of crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, federal and state governments need to ensure that all of us, regardless of immigration status and the job we hold in society, are safe, healthy, and have access to critical services. No one should be left to struggle on their own during a global pandemic. As a society, we want to encourage everyone who is sick to stay home from work and have access to medical care if they need it. Now is the time to protect all community members by providing access to Medicaid, unemployment insurance, paid sick leave, the Temporary [...]
We Must Boost New York’s Fighting Chance
New York State is dealing with a pandemic that demands sudden and unusual changes in our everyday lives. The need for societal change including social distancing and restricting public gatherings to protect our health is clear. The question is what will be the economic cost of our necessary public health policy and how will we pay for it? Explore these pressing issues with us in our new brief: At the time of this writing, our state is trying to reach the short-term goal of sufficiently “flattening the curve” of infection to keep hospitalization rates within our state's healthcare capacity. That is [...]
Investing in Refugees: New York Must Continue to Lead
The New York State Enhanced Services to Refugees Program began in 2017 as a remarkable response to the federal government’s retreat from refugee resettlement. New York did what no other state would: provide flexible state funds to support the state’s strong network of resettlement agencies through a difficult time, and help them reframe their focus on integration. New York State allocated $2 million for NYSESRP in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020. Because of continued federal cuts in support for refugee integration, New York for Refugees—the coalition of 16 agencies resettling refugees, the Fiscal Policy Institute, and the New York Immigration [...]
FPI’s 2020 State Budget Presentations
Our state budget is an opportunity to define our values and choose our future. Will our actions reinforce inequity and inequality or can we pull together to create a more just New York for all? FPI took a look at the proposed executive budget and shared our thoughts in two presentations, one in Albany and one in New York City. If you missed those informative events, you can still take a look at what was presented. Financial Plan Economic Development Education Health Care Housing Human Services Immigration Local Governments
New York Should Fund Programs that Support Immigrant Integration
Our state budget is the opportunity to improve the lives of immigrant New Yorkers by investing in immigrant integration. While Governor Cuomo continues to stress that New York is a welcoming state for immigrants, unfortunately he failed to include any funding in his executive budget for critical programs to help protect immigrants from federal attacks, cut funding for some programs, and eliminated it for others. There is still time for these issues to be addressed as the governor, the assembly, and the senate negotiate a final budget. For refugees, New York has been a real leader: $2 million that has been [...]
New York’s 4.5 Million Immigrants Will Look to Governor Cuomo’s Leadership to Protect Them Against Federal Attacks
We welcome Governor Cuomo’s focus on the diversity of New York in his State of the State address. The governor was clear that our state was and is comprised of a wide variety of peoples who are all working to create a better future for themselves and our state. We also commend the governor for acknowledging the difficulties immigrants face obtaining employment. His proposal to make occupational licensing possible for some immigrants is a small but welcome step. The measure would remove an exclusion from licensing for security guards, notaries, real estate brokers—among other occupations—that currently prohibits immigrants who are [...]
Pay Your Way into the USA: DHS’s proposed fee increases create an immigration “wealth test”
Would you pass the federal administration’s wealth test? Here’s what you need to know and how you can help. The federal administration is trying to make it harder for people who are not affluent to enter the United States or obtain citizenship by instituting a “wealth test” to limit immigration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to eliminate fee waivers for citizenship, lawful permanent residency, employment authorization, and many other applications to make it harder for immigrants who may work low-wage jobs to obtain legal status. DHS has proposed increasing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fees [...]
Only Wealthy Immigrants Need Apply: The Chilling Effects of “Public Charge”
In August 2019, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule on the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility for immigrants whose application for a green card is processed in the United States. The rule applies a similar test to people seeking to extend or change their temporary status (such as student or employment visas) in the United States. Although scheduled to go into effect on October 15, the rule has been blocked temporarily by several federal courts. If the new public charge rule goes into effect, it will make it much more difficult for low- and moderate-income families to [...]
“Public Charge” Chill Continues Regardless of Injunction
FPI Finds Widespread Negative Effects of the Attempt to Rewrite Immigration Policy For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 Media Contact: communications@fiscalpolicy.org, 518-786-3156 “Public Charge” Chill Continues Regardless of Injunction FPI Finds Widespread Negative Effects of the Attempt to Rewrite Immigration Policy Read the report: www.fiscalpolicy.org/publiccharge2019 (Albany, NY) The Trump administration continues to drastically remake US immigration policy through a radical reinterpretation of the “public charge” rule. In the Fiscal Policy Institute’s report released today - “Only Wealthy Immigrants Need Apply: The Chilling Effects of Public Charge” - FPI shares an updated analysis of the fiscal and [...]
Join Us for Tax Justice NY!
You are invited to FPI's new FREE event"Tax Justice NY: Moving from Austerity to Prosperity" in Albany on Monday, December 9th, from 11:30 am - 2:30 pm in Meeting Room 5, Empire State Plaza. Our state’s tax policy is a tool we can all use to eliminate existing racial, ethnic, and gender inequities and increase economic equality for all New Yorkers. We are excited to partner with state and national advocacy organizations to bring these informative and energizing panel discussions to Albany in preparation for the 2020 state legislative session. 11:30 am - 11:55 am "Surveying the 2020 Landscape" New York State needs to commit to ensuring that its residents have [...]
Our Federal Tax Policy Can Strengthen NYS Communities
We can use federal tax policy to help struggling New Yorkers and support local communities with the Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA). More than 6.5 million New York State residents would directly benefit from WFTRA's tax credits and tax reductions to boost incomes - especially helpful as most workers have seen their wages stagnate. WFTRA would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for families with children and strengthen it for workers not raising children. The legislation would also make the Child Tax Credit (CTC) refundable, allowing children in families with lower incomes to fully benefit from the program. FPI [...]
There Are About 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S., Not Twice As Many
On July 11, 2019, the Trump Administration released an executive order that requires the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services to collect citizenship data using administrative records for the federal administration to determine the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. This executive order was in response to the federal administration’s failed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census that was blocked by the Supreme Court. In order to justify the executive order, the Trump Administration cited a 2018 study from three [...]
Slashing Resettlement Will Hurt Refugees and Hurt New York
Slashing Resettlement Will Hurt Refugees and Hurt New York July, 26, 2019. In 2019, President Trump capped the refugee resettlement program at just 30,000 entries, the lowest it has been since the beginning of the modern refugee resettlement program. If recent news reports are right, the Trump administration is now discussing reducing the cap even further, possibly as far as zero. Refugee resettlement is a humanitarian commitment: refugees are resettled in the United States from some of the most horrific circumstances around the world and allowed the chance to make a new home in this country. But, resettlement is also [...]
Legislators & Advocates Call for Working Family Tax Credits to Fight Childhood Poverty
On many levels, New York is an affluent state with high median incomes, quality schools, and prosperous corporations, but as the United Way reports, 45 percent of households in NYS cannot afford basic necessities. As evidenced by the United Way of New York’s comprehensive, data-driven ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report, relying on the federal poverty guidelines is a poor measure – it is clear that while struggling working families may be above the poverty line, they are far from secure. On May 30th, advocates from the United Way, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, and The Children's Agenda, [...]
Press Release: Legislators, Fiscal Watchdog, Children and Social Justice Advocates and Faith Leaders Urge NY to Take Real Steps To Address Child Poverty and Provide Tax Relief to Low Income Families by Strengthening NY’s EITC and Child Tax Credit
For Immediate Release: March 11, 2019 Media Contact: communications@fiscalpolicy.org, 518-786-3156 Legislators, Fiscal Watchdog, Children and Social Justice Advocates and Faith Leaders Urge NY to Take Real Steps To Address Child Poverty and Provide Tax Relief to Low Income Families by Strengthening NY’s EITC and Child Tax Credit Albany, NY. Lawmakers and advocates urge New York to act this year to address our child poverty epidemic. More than one in five NY children live in poverty; with that rate rising to nearly one in three among children of color. This means about 803,000 NY children live in homes where food and [...]
Reworking New York State’s Family Tax Credits
March 8, 2019. The human costs of child poverty are staggering. Experiencing poverty as a child – even for short stints – can impair brain development, physical and mental health, and academic achievement, and increase the possibility of child welfare involvement. And the impacts can last a lifetime. Childhood poverty is the single best predictor of adult poverty. Child poverty also imposes extraordinary economic costs to the state. A report just issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine estimates that child poverty costs the nation $800 billion to $1.1 trillion annually in reduced adult productivity, increased costs of crime, and [...]
$4.5 Million for a Unique NYS Program Would Help Refugees and Grow Communities
February 22, 2019. The New York State Enhanced Services to Refugees Program began in 2017, as a remarkable response to the federal government’s radical retreat from refugee resettlement. New York took on what no other state did: it helped resettlement agencies to get through a difficult period, and also to rethink their role in their communities. The first two years of funding were $2 million; this year the Fiscal Policy Institute, the resettlement agencies, and the New York Immigration Coalition are requesting $4.5 million. The program, known as NYSESRP, has been a huge success, and is a beacon for other states around [...]
Media Roundup: Patriotic Millionaires and Advocates Call Upon State to Raise Revenues from the Wealthy to Support Critical Services
January 14, 2019. On February 12th, 2019, the Patriotic Millionaires joined several organizations from across the state, including the Fiscal Policy Institute, outside the Joint Legislative Hearing on Taxes in in the Legislative Office Building in Albany to urge New York's elected officials to raise additional revenues by asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay a little more. The press event was featured in several media outlets, which are listed below. New York Nonprofit Media: Several nonprofits appeared at the state Capitol Feb. 12 to advocate for higher taxes on the wealthy to fund social services. This included a press conference outside of a [...]
Driving Together: Benefits of Allowing All New Yorkers to Apply for Licenses
February 15, 2019. Suddenly, with a new legislature in office, New York is poised to join 12 other states plus Puerto Rico and D.C. and allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses.A report by the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) estimates that 265,000 undocumented immigrants statewide would obtain driver’s licenses, including 64,000 north of New York City and 51,000 on Long Island. FPI also estimates that $57 million in annual revenue and $26 million in one-time revenue would be generated from the purchase of driver’s licenses, new cars, registrations, and sales and gas taxes. According to FPI’s report, revenues from [...]