Congestion Pricing “vs.” Millionaire’s Tax: Why Not Do Both?
October 30, 2017. Here’s a story you don’t hear every day: in the latest spat between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor De Blasio, both of them are right. Congestion pricing, the governor’s proposal, and a surcharge to the millionaire’s tax, the mayor’s proposal, are both good ideas. The not-so-secret feuding between the governor and the mayor has not served New Yorkers well. From the serious to the petty, the two Democrats don’t seem to be able to get along about much. But, in their dueling proposals to provide much-needed funding to improve New York City’s transit system, they [...]
A Constitutional Convention – A Risk NOT Worth Taking
A Constitutional Convention – A Risk NOT Worth Taking Ron Deutsch, Fiscal Policy Institute The New York Constitution articulates the legal rights of New Yorkers, and in many vital areas, provides our residents more protections than the U.S. Constitution. A Constitutional Convention is an expensive, complicated and potentially dangerous undertaking that is unnecessary because we already have a more rigorous and more democratic process by which the voters can adopt or reject individual amendments to the State Constitution on their individual merits rather than being presented with the kinds of omnibus “mixed bag” packages that were advanced by virtually all of [...]
Senior Budget and Policy Analyst
The Senior Budget and Policy Analyst will lead work in a range of policy areas of importance to the Fiscal Policy Institute. He or she will produce timely, comprehensible, and reliable research. A central part of the job will be leading FPI’s research analyzing state budget proposals in real time every January to April. The right candidate will have strong policy analysis skills, will work well independently and in teams, and will be able to communicate information effectively to diverse audiences. Like all FPI staff, the right candidate for this position will have a commitment to reversing the extraordinary racial and economic disparities in wages, income, and opportunity in our communities, and [...]
Uphill Employment Battle for New York’s Recent College Graduates
Brent Kramer, PhD, Senior Economist Kramer@fiscalpolicy.org August 3, 2017 ALBANY, New York – In today’s post-Great Recession environment, student loan debt has reached all-time highs, and more young adults are living at home longer, and are unable to purchase homes, cars, and other assets because of persistent unemployment or underemployment. Many young would-be workers are forgoing the job market altogether, and returning to school or taking unpaid internships in hopes of breaking into their respective fields. Eight years after the Great Recession, college graduates looking to enter the workforce after college are asking about the job market prospects throughout [...]
The Workers That Feed Our Families: Fighting for the Right to Organize
August 2, 2017. The Workers That Feed Our Families: Fighting for the Right to Organize Crispin Hernandez is a farmworker who felt he and others he worked with were not getting a fair wage or decent working conditions. The solution, he thought, was to organize with other workers to be able to negotiate with their employers. When he started organizing, however, he was fired. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), who is representing Crispin Hernandez, filed a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and New York State challenging the firing. Oral arguments for the case were heard on July 20 and [...]
Fiscal Policy Institute is Expanding
August 1, 2017. We’re pleased to announce some staff changes at the Fiscal Policy Institute. Kendra Moses recently joined FPI as Operations Manager. Kendra comes to us from Greater Adirondack Home Aides, where she was Chief Financial Officer and Consumer Directed Medicaid Program Director. Melissa Krug was hired as FPI’s new Poverty Policy Analyst. Melissa was a Center for Women and Government fellow at FPI through the budget season working on poverty issues. David Dyssegaard Kallick has been promoted to Deputy Director of FPI. He will also continue as director of the Immigration Research Initiative that he started at FPI. David has been with FPI for [...]
OUR VIEW: Celebrate World Refugee Day Saturday at City Hall
June 16, 2017. An editorial featured in the Observer-Dispatch cited FPI's and the Center for American Progress's co-released report, "Refugee Integration in the United States." The op-ed is not only an invitation to celebrate World Refugee Day with those in Utica, but it also discusses how Utica is a city that refugees have helped rebuild by contributing to the local economy and tax rolls and reversing population decline. There is little question that refugees are making significant contributions to our communities across the nation - Utica included. A report last year by the Center for American Progress and the Fiscal [...]
Language Diversity and English-Speaking Ability in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse
June 12, 2017. Many institutions in upstate New York cities and metro areas are wrestling with translation services, language access, and other ways to help integrate local residents who didn’t grow up speaking English. And, while the immigrant share of the population is not as big as in cities like New York or Los Angeles, the diversity of languages spoken can make for its own challenges. An analysis of the 2015 American Community Survey 5-year data for Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse cities and metro areas demonstrates how languages spoken vary from the suburbs to the cities. As in most of [...]
Government Watchdogs Push ‘Clean Contracting’ Reform in Albany
May 11, 2017. FPI and a coalition of other organizations are calling on Governor Cuomo to sign a bill for "clean contracting" in response to the bid-rigging scandal last year. The coalition calls on the Governor to restore the power to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for all state contracts exceeding $250,000, an end to non-academic contracting by state-controlled non-profit organizations, the creation of a comprehensive “database of deals,” and a prohibition against state authorities, corporations, and affiliated non-profits doing business with their board members. “How many scandals and indictments are needed before we enact any meaningful reforms,” asked Ron Deutsch, [...]
Editorial: New Deportation Policy Has Human, Fiscal Cost
May 2, 2017. An editorial discusses the deportation case of Martin Martinez, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, has a working permit, but also has two drunken driving convictions from over a decade ago. The author discusses sanctuary cities and argues how they try to distinguish between serious and minor crimes, and that new deportation policies make it difficult to fight crime. In the article, the author also argues that there are human and fiscal costs, and cites FPI's and ITEP's co-released report on DACA recipients tax contributions. That’s why police in Newburgh and [...]
Legal Status for Dreamers Boosts NY Tax Revenue
April 26, 2017. In an article discussing the findings of a 50-state report by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and co-released in New York with FPI, David Dyssegaard Kallick, Director of FPI's Immigration Research Initiative, was quoted. The Trump administration is sending mixed messages about whether those granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status by the Obama administration will be deported or allowed to stay and work legally. David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said he believes one consideration should be the contributions young immigrants are making, in New York and nationally. "DACA recipients contribute $140 [...]
Immigrant Youth Add $140 Million to NY State Tax Revenues
April 25, 2017. What will happen to immigrant youth who as children were brought to the United States without legal status and were temporarily shielded from deportation by a 2012 executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA? The Trump Administration is projecting very mixed messages about the present and future of these young people. To help shed some light on how DACA has allowed these young immigrants to contribute to our country and our state, a new report shows the state and local tax contributions of young people eligible for DACA. The 50-state analysis was conducted [...]
Medicaid Supports New York’s Schools and Children
For immediate release: April 20, 2017 Contact: Ron Deutsch, Executive Director, Fiscal Policy Institute 518-786-3156 (o), 518-469-6769 (c) Christy DeBoe Hicks, State Communications Specialist, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (202) 408-1080; cdhicks@cbpp.org Medicaid Supports New York’s Schools and Children House Republican Plans to Cut Medicaid Would Jeopardize Critical Health Services for Students [Albany, NY] – New York’s schools receive over $273 million from Medicaid each year, according to data released by the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This funding pays for medical services for Medicaid-eligible students with disabilities, such as mental health and speech therapy. It [...]
Viewpoints: Like Google, Apple and Uber? Thank an Immigrant
April 14, 2017. In an article highlighting the significant contributions that immigrants make to the economy through business ownership, the author discusses their role in the creation of fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. This article cites a co-released report by the Americas Society/Council on the Americas and the Fiscal Policy Institute, Bringing Vitality to Main Street. Just consider: Of the Fortune 500 companies, 90 were founded by immigrants, a 2011 report showed. And it’s not just the billion-dollar blockbuster companies that are making an outsized contribution to U.S. competitiveness. Small business and entrepreneurship – the backbone of the [...]
City Plans Hearing To Crack Down on Employers Taking Advantage Of Immigrants
April 11, 2017. An article featured in Crain's New York Business draws attention to the hearing scheduled for April 25, at 6:30 p.m. at LaGuardia Community College's Little Theater, where wage theft, discrimination, scheduling problems, health and safety hazards, access to paid sick leave, and freelancer payment problems will be addressed and how the city government can help to protect workers against these issues. The article argues that employers are using the fear created by immigration policies to take advantage of their workers. This article cites FPI's report, Working For A Better Life. Citing "the shifting priorities in Washington. D.C.," city [...]
FPI Releases 2017-2018 Budget Statement
For immediate release: April 11, 2017 Contact: Ron Deutsch, Executive Director 518-786-3156 (o), 518-469-6769 (c), deutsch@fiscalpolicy.org David Dyssegaard Kallick, Senior Fellow, Director, Immigration Research Initiative 212-721-7164 (o), 646-284-1240 (c), ddkallick@fiscalpolicy.org FPI Statement on 2017-18 Enacted State Budget There’s no question the newly-minted state budget contains some important public policy issues that should be lauded. However, given the governor’s very vocal concerns about funding threats from Washington, we sadly missed an opportunity to be proactive in protecting New York from potential federal budget cuts, and to provide funding streams to allow flexibility in making adjustments as needed. While the budget extends [...]
Tom Cat Bakery Workers Targeted By ICE March in Front of Trump Tower
April 7, 2017. An article highlighting a protest against an immigration crackdown on Tom Cat Bakery, located in Long Island, that was threatened with criminal charges if they continued to hire workers with out proper working credentials, quoted FPI's data. This data came from FPI's Working for a Better Life report. Immigrant food workers will march on Trump Tower Saturday to protest an immigration crackdown on Long Island City's Tom Cat Bakery, whose baguettes are served by top restaurants around the city. Elected officials including Comptroller Scott Stringer will join unions and immigrant advocacy groups for an expected 1,000-person march [...]
NY Daily News: NYC jobs market booming under Cuomo — but for rest of state, it’s a different story
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS By Jim Heaney and Charlotte Keith Saturday, April 1, 2017, 12:47 PM Job creation in New York State under Gov. Cuomo is akin to a tale of two cities. There is New York City — and everyplace else. New York City added some 600,000 jobs since Cuomo took office in 2011. That's a 16% jump, well above the national average of 11% and better than all but five states. Job growth is more modest elsewhere in the Empire State — and downright anemic upstate. Between December 2010, the month before Cuomo took office, and December 2016, [...]
Undocumented Immigrants Make New York Great By Fueling $40 Billion In Economic Output
April 5, 2017. In an article describing the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants in the Daily KOS, it cites FPI and ITEP's co-released report on undocumented immigrants tax contributions in New York State as well as quotes FPI's David Dyssegaard Kallick. The article argues that President Trump had undocumented workers help build Trump Towers but now demonizes them despite their contributions to the economy. "Look at undocumented immigrants keeping New York great: Undocumented immigrants contribute about $40 billion a year to New York state's gross domestic product, according to a new report. Unauthorized immigrants are about 5 percent of the labor [...]
Immigration Advocacy Groups, State Officials Plan ‘Here To Stay’ Rally
April 4, 2017. In Connecticut, the "Here To Stay" rally is being planned by state officials and advocacy groups in order to protest mass deportation strategies and to call attention to the economic contributions of immigrants. According to the article, this will be done through marches, rallies, music, food and stories. This article highlights the small business ownership statistic for Connecticut from FPI's report, "Immigrant Small Business Owners: A Significant and Growing Part of the Economy." The Connecticut demonstration on April 29 will be one of many held across the nation as part of May Day, a day traditionally heralded [...]
Will Trump’s Immigration Policies Wreck The Construction Industry?
April 4, 2017. FPI's, David Dyssegaard Kallick, was quoted in an article arguing that Trump's immigration policies could have significant implications on industries heavily populated with immigrant workers, such as the construction industry. The article argues that Trump's policies instill fear in workers, create abuse and will create a decline in workers in the construction industry For industries traditionally populated by immigrants, like construction, the policies could have significant implications. The uncertainty surrounding how these orders will play out nationally and even in cities like New York and Los Angeles —where the elected officials have emphatically spoken out against such [...]