ALBANY, NY | Fiscal Policy Institute Director Nathan Gusdorf today released the following statement about Governor Hochul’s fiscal year 2026 executive budget:

Governor Hochul today released her executive budget for fiscal year 2026, which reflects an overdue recognition of the State’s strong fiscal position and capacity for making new public investments in order to ease cost of living pressures for working New Yorkers.

Unfortunately, this executive budget deploys these fiscal resources primarily for one-time checks and a permanent tax cut, and dodges the issue of an impending cut to the corporate tax rate. These proposals, combined with tax cuts that were phased in two years ago, will cost the State over $5 billion annually. It would be wiser to invest these revenues in spending initiatives that primarily benefit working and middle class New Yorkers, in particular by funding the MTA capital plan (rather than forcing the legislature to find a new revenue source), and structurally expanding the State’s $1.1 billion per year childcare program, rather than continuing to study options for universal childcare.

Addressing housing costs will be the most significant affordability issue this year, and the executive budget proposes a novel revolving loan fund, which has been successfully used elsewhere in the country to efficiently produce affordable housing—but only commits a meager $50 million to the fund. The $3 billion committed to a one-time “inflation rebate” would be far more consequential in reducing cost of living pressures were it used to fund this initiative.

With billions of dollars of additional revenue, now is the time for the State to permanently expand its investments in affordability measures: lowering the cost of housing, achieving universal childcare, fixing the MTA, managing the cost of health care, and adapting to the challenges of climate change.