New York's public school system, built in the nineteenth century, entitles New Yorkers aged five to twenty-one to free education. More recently, policymakers, including Governor Hochul and Mayor-elect Mamdani, have committed to finishing the project by extending universal education and care to children under the age of five.
The single most decisive factor in whether New York City ends up with a truly universal childcare system is whether that system is supported by sustainable, recurring revenue that grows with the program over time.
A Q&A about federal funding cuts
The new federal budget will cost New York State $10 billion annually. The State will have to step in.
Lawmakers must look to progressive revenue sources for MTA funding
Download the Memo Download the Report The Fiscal Policy Institute today released two publications on how to fix New York State's insolvent unemployment insurance system: a memo recommending tax changes, and a short report detailing the UI system’s chronic underfunding and low benefit level. Unemployment insurance (UI), which provides temporary income to laid-off workers, is one of the State’s most important economic stabilization policies. Unemployment can both throw workers into poverty and exacerbate recessions by [...]
FPI today released a report by Dr. Emily Eisner on the staffing crisis in Upstate New York's hospitals. The report finds that 90 percent of Upstate hospital shifts are current understaffed, and that an additional 5,000 Registered Nurses and 20,000 ancillary staff are needed to achieve safe staffing levels. As the report shows, chronic understaffing leads to a 14 percent rise in mortality risk for patients on the worst 10 percent of hospital units—about 280 additional patients death for every 100,000 hospitalizations.
The Fiscal Policy Institute today released a new report in its state migration series, "Who Is Leaving New York State? Social and Labor Characteristics", which finds that affordability — and in particular housing and the cost of raising a family — are increasingly driving State population loss.
The DOB’s assumed growth rates for State revenue are unusually low by historical standards, and are out of sync with most forecasts of U.S. economic growth over coming years. FPI expects State revenue growth in fiscal year 2025 will likely exceed current forecasts by at least $4 billion.
New York State often faces calls for higher tax revenue, whether due to concerns over revenue shortfalls or a desire to increase public spending. This brief assesses the soundness of raising revenue through the Personal Income Tax, examining the fiscal stability of such revenue, fundamental fairness considerations, and responses to common arguments against raising the state income tax.
By Andrew Perry, Senior Policy Analyst January 2024 Approximately $2.4 Billion of FY28 budget gap will be due to the Personal Income Tax and Corporate Franchise Tax surcharge expirations. In the fiscal year 2022 budget, New York enacted temporary increases to the personal income tax (PIT) and corporate franchise tax (CFT) rates. PIT rates were raised for tax filers with more than $1 million in annual income, and new brackets were created for filers with incomes over $5 million [...]
A groundbreaking new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute, “Who Is Leaving New York State? Income Trends” reveals for the first time that the richest New Yorkers are far less likely to move out of New York than working and middle-class New Yorkers in normal, non-Covid years. While this pattern temporarily changed during Covid, when all households earning over $170,000 significantly increased their likelihood of moving out of state, migration trends reverted to normal in 2022.
New outyear budget gaps in the fiscal year 2024 Enacted Budget Financial Plan reflect heightened pessimism about the state’s economic trajectory by the State’s Division of Budget (DOB). While all economic projections are highly uncertain, the State is well-equipped to weather economic turbulence if these projections do materialize.
New York State has been reported to be one of the states most at risk of incurring a shortage of healthcare workers over the next decade. With a quickly growing population of adults over the age of 65 (“older adults”) and a movement towards “aging in place,” the demand for home care workers will rise dramatically over the next decade.
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.