NYS Budget

February 21, 2018. The New Hope Budget coalition is a group of advocates across the state calling on lawmakers to adopt a "morally responsible" state budget that addresses the ever-widening gap between the "haves and have-nots." The coalition calls for taxing the wealthy, raising the two percent state spending cap, reducing local property taxes, and campaign finance reform among other socioeconomic issues. The coalition is currently on a 13-stop statewide tour, meeting with community members and state legislatures. This week, the group was in Saratoga Springs, [...]

February 21, 2019. Continuing on their 13 stop tour across New York, the New Hope Budget advocates stopped in Ithaca to discuss a state budget that levels the playing field for all New Yorkers. "A budget is a moral document when you think about it. A budget is about priorities," Ron Deutsch, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said to an audience including Tompkins County legislators and members of various political, labor and religious organizations. Find the article about the stop in Ithaca at the [...]

July 15, 2018. Since the Governor took office in 2011, the spending for economic development has increased significantly with dubious results. Several projects, which include the $15 Central New York Film Hub outside Syracuse and the Buffalo Billion revitalization plan, among others, have failed considerably and only exposed the major corruption in New York state government. With the outcome of the bid-rigging trial of Alain Kaloyeros hanging over our state government and a failure to pass accountability and transparency legislation during the legislative session, it is suffice [...]

May 3, 2018. Jumaane Williams, the New York City councilman and progressive activist who's seeking to unseat Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul in September's primary, wants the state to end Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2 percent spending cap and increase taxes on the rich. Williams suggested a number of new taxes or fees targeting the state's wealthiest residents to generate an estimated $20 billion in new revenue to fund education, transportation, environmental remediation, public housing and health care. The Fiscal Policy has long pushed to increase taxes on [...]

April 28, 2018. Newly endorsed Working Families Parties candidate for New York governor, Cynthia Nixon, discusses how the state's two percent spending cap and two percent spending property tax cap causes problems for education and government services. She says that the two percent spending cap shrinks the budget every year, causing major impacts to public education and local governments in the form of budget cuts. Frank Mauro, former executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, along with several other organizations, comments that the two percent cap [...]

March 27, 2018. A measure to crack down on sexual harassment in government and the private sector appeared to remain in the 2018-19 budget package on Monday, while several other high-profile initiatives may be put aside and addressed after the April 1 deadline, according to legislative staffers and others close to the budget talks. Also staying in place is a wide-ranging plan to allow employers to increase payroll taxes they pay – which would help employees deal with the new $10,000 limit on federal deductibility [...]

February 15, 2018. Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, and Jonas Shaende, Senior Budget & Policy Analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute, shared their analysis of the Governor’s executive budget and their recommendations for a Shared Opportunity Agenda for New York.   Access Podcast Here