Tax & Budget

Beyond Balance: Forward-Looking Budget Priorities for New York City

July 9, 2013. All three of New York City’s citywide elected offices will have new faces in 2014. Mayor Michael Bloomberg cannot run for re-election because of the city’s term limits law, while Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu are both running for Mayor rather than seeking re-election to their current offices. As voters consider a large field of mayoral candidates, as well as contenders for the other two citywide offices, the five borough presidencies and the 51 seats in the City [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:30-05:00July 9th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Groups Say Tax Free-NY is Bad Economic Development Policy, Bad Tax Policy and Bad for New York.

June 11, 2013. Frank Mauro of the Fiscal Policy Institute joined with community, student and labor groups at a press conference in the Legislative Office Building in Albany to urge the Legislature to reject the Governor's ill-conceived Tax-Free NY proposal. The press conference was organized by Ron Deutsch, the executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness. Mauro distributed FPI’s new report on the Tax-Free NY proposal at the press conference which was covered by a number of news outlets including the (Albany) Times Union, [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:52-05:00June 11th, 2013|Press Releases, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Tax-Free New York – Bad Tax Policy, Bad Economic Development Policy

June 11, 2013. This brief concludes that Tax-Free New York is bad tax policy and bad economic development policy. From a tax policy perspective, the Tax-Free NY proposal is inconsistent with the two long-established pillars of tax fairness—horizontal equity and vertical equity. In addition, New York State's past experience with geographically-targeted business tax incentives should raise huge red flags regarding the efficacy of the proposal as an economic development strategy. Besides being diametrically opposed to the principles of tax fairness, the idea of exempting the [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:52-05:00June 11th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Walmart and other large, low-wage employers will benefit financially from New York’s new Minimum Wage Reimbursement Credit.

April 5, 2013. Unless disclosure requirements are clarified, we’ll probably never know exactly how much Walmart and other large, low-wage employers receive in government subsidies under New York’s new Minimum Wage Reimbursement Credit (MWRC). But based on the best data available, we estimate that Walmart is likely to receive MWRC subsidies of between $53 million and $85 million over the next five years. New York’s new MWRC will provide employers a tax credit for the hours worked by students between the ages of 16 and [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:54-05:00April 5th, 2013|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

The Many Problems with New York’s Proposed Minimum Wage Reimbursement Credit

March 25, 2013. This was to have been the year New York caught up with the 19 other states and the District of Columbia with a minimum wage above the $7.25 an hour federal level. Minimum wage legislation that passed the Assembly also would have indexed the minimum wage in future years—as 10 other states do—so that inflation would not steadily erode its purchasing power. However, the agreement reached over the weekend in Albany falls far short. It increases the minimum wage to $8.00 an [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:55-05:00March 25th, 2013|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Briefing on Mayor Bloomberg’s Preliminary FY 2014 NYC Budget, and a Forward-Looking Budget Agenda

March 5, 2013. Part I of the budget briefing on Mayor Bloomberg’s Preliminary FY 2014 NYC Budget makes the following points: Unemployment remains very high in this historically weak “recovery.” NYC job growth better than the U.S., but considerable hardships persist. NYC tax revenues have rebounded, but federal and state aid share declined. State budget choices and pressures continue to squeeze NYC. City-funded expenditures projected to increase 3.4% in FY 2014, with increases in debt service and health insurance. Most agency budgets are cut. Over [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:57-05:00March 5th, 2013|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, State Budget, Tax Policy|

Closing the window of opportunity: the impact of the Governor’s proposed 2013-14 New York State budget on New York City’s women, youth and families

February 16, 2013. When viewed with a gender lens, the Governor’s 2013-2014 budget impacts New York City’s low-income women and their families in many ways, from decreased resources for low-income women seeking to get a foothold in the job market, to reduced funding for a wide range of essential support services, including access to child care. These proposed budget cuts, coupled with a weak recovery and sharp increases in poverty levels in NYC, further destabilize those most in need. Over the last three years, poverty [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:57-05:00February 16th, 2013|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, State Budget, Tax & Budget|

Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2013-2014 Executive Budget – Taxes

February 12, 2013. In this testimony, Frank Mauro made the following six points: New York State should not cut taxes while the resources provided for education and other essential services are being hit with “Gap Elimination Adjustments” and other austerity measures. New York State should not provide tax subsidies for companies that outsource jobs or otherwise reduce employment in the state. Economic development tax breaks should only go to businesses that create and maintain jobs in the state. Loopholes and tax breaks that allow large, [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00February 12th, 2013|State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|

FPI on New York’s 2013-14 State Budget

February 12, 2013. We have updated the Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2013-2014 briefing book that was originally released at FPI’s 23rd annual budget briefing on January 29, and submitted testimony by Carolyn Boldiston on the implications for Human Services of the Governor’s 2013-2014 Executive Budget and testimony by Frank Mauro on Tax Issues related to the Legislature’s consideration of the Executive Budget. We have also completed an analysis, with the New York Women's Foundation, of the impact of the Governor's budget on women, children and [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00February 12th, 2013|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|

Coalition and lawmakers call on Governor, Legislature to close corporate tax loopholes to level playing field for small business and restore public services

January 30, 2013. As part of a coalition of community, labor, faith, student and Occupy organizations, the Fiscal Policy Institute has launched a campaign to bring fairness and transparency to New York’s corporate tax system, ending costly loopholes that cost taxpayers and businesses dearly. The coalition is calling on Governor Cuomo and the Legislature to close a series of unfair corporate tax loopholes, raising nearly $1billion for this year’s state budget and leveling the playing field between large out-of-state multinational corporations and New York based [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00January 30th, 2013|Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

New York State Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2013-2014

January 29, 2013. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s 23rd annual budget briefing. Briefing Book

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00January 29th, 2013|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Fiscal Policy Institute’s Mauro to step down

January 7, 2013. Frank Mauro will be stepping down as FPI's Executive Director at the end of New York’s 2013 Legislative session. Mauro has long been one of Albany’s best known experts on budget and public policy issues from his work at FPI and earlier as Secretary of the NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee, director of Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink’s Program Development Group, director of research for the last major revision of the New York City Charter, and Deputy Director of the Rockefeller Institute [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:59-05:00January 7th, 2013|Press Releases, Tax & Budget|

FPI and CBPP: Ryan Budget Takes Billions out of New York

August 8, 2012. Today the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a new report showing that a "Cuts Only" approach to reducing the federal deficit would drastically cut federal investments in education, roads and bridges, and disaster relief. Cuts of this magnitude would do great damage to the economy. FPI's press release (below) highlights the fact that the House-passed "Ryan Budget," a prime example of the "Cuts Only" approach, would cost New York state and local governments $2.7 billion in 2014 alone and $21.2 [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:28:15-05:00August 8th, 2012|Press Releases, Tax & Budget|