January 15, 2008.
New York
State's Economic and Budget Outlook for 2008-2009. Economic and fiscal
context for the 2008-09 Executive Budget, including an analysis of the property
tax crisis and alternative property tax relief mechanisms.
January 20, 2008.
What to Know
Before Analyzing the State Budget. This brief provides information about the
state's economy, its finances, and three policy issues (property taxes, economic
development and economic security) that are sure to receive significant
attention during this year's budget debates. It also touches on the federal
stimulus package now being debated in Washington, and how that package may help
or hurt in the balancing of the state budget. For more detail, see FPI's outlook
presentation.
February 5, 2008.
Testimony on the 2008-09 Executive Budget
- Human Services. Submitted by FPI
senior economist Trudi Renwick to the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means
Committees.
Renwick explains several important policy opportunities for New York: increase
the basic welfare grant; liberalize
the earned income disregard; finance the Earned Income Tax Credit from the
General Fund; and take child care funding out of the Flexible Fund for Family
Services (FFFS), to ensure that adequate resources go for this essential work
support. Renwick includes a series of charts and tables describing TANF spending
in New York.
February 11, 2008.
Testimony on
the 2008-09 Executive Budget - Economic Development and Taxes. Submitted by
FPI executive director Frank Mauro to the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means
Committees. Given
the many signs that we are in a recession, state leaders must be especially
careful about the way they close the state budget gap. Some gap-closing
strategies could actually exacerbate the downturn.
February 11, 2008.
Getting bang for our
buck: Economic development in New York State. Despite the billions currently
spent on economic development, we have relatively little to show for it. The
appropriate guiding principle is building the middle class - thus increasing the
already impressive productivity of New York workers. Logical next steps include
scrapping Empire Zones, reforming IDAs and more.
February 11, 2008.
Property Taxes in New York:
A State Problem Calling for a State Solution. Why are property taxes so high
in New York? State fiscal policies have created the bind. A look at four reforms
that would help - and could be funded in a way that makes the overall tax system
fairer. In the meantime, a middle class circuit breaker would ease the pressure
on the property tax much more effectively that the Middle Class STAR program.
February 14, 2008.
Will Education
Funding Promises be Broken? FPI prepared the data for this report from the
Alliance for Quality Education - showing that
the proposed cuts in foundation aid in the executive budget disproportionately
hurt students from poor households. The districts outside of New York City with
the highest proportion of poverty (districts in which, on average, 60 percent of
students live in poverty) face 20 percent of the proposed cuts despite having
only 15 percent of all students in the state. New York City students (of whom 76
percent live in poverty) face 53 percent of all cuts in foundation aid despite
representing only 36 percent of all students in the state.
