The proposed increase in the Excelsior Scholarship income cap would build on a program that was fundamentally flawed, wasteful and unfair to begin with. Read More
Testimony
The main thing wrong with Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid budget is that it barely exists. His executive budget proposes to reduce funding for the state’s biggest and most important program by 10 percent, or $2.5 billion, but omits any plan for making that happen. Instead, the governor is delegating details to a panel of industry insiders who haven’t yet been named and don’t have a clear deadline. Read More
If ever a piece of legislation warranted thorough vetting, in full public view, it’s a bill that would compel 20 million people to switch health plans, abolish tens of thousands of jobs, upend a sixth of the economy and levy the largest tax increase in the history of this or any other state. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget for fiscal year 2020 includes a short list of state revenue actions. By far the most significant tax proposal on the list would extend, for five years, the temporary added personal income tax (PIT) rate also known as the “millionaire tax.” Read More
Testimony of Bill Hammond, Health Policy Director, Empire Center for Public Policy, Before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees Read More
The past year has been a roller-coaster ride for New York’s health care system, as Congress tried repeatedly to scale back Medicaid and dismantle the Affordable Care Act while allowing other health-related programs to lapse. Because New York depends so heavily on federal health dollars, it had more to lose than almost any other state in all of those fights. Read More
Making the tax cap permanent and forging ahead with the personal income tax cuts are essential steps for minimizing the negatives and maximizing the positives of the new federal tax law. Read More
Lawmakers should make reforms to New York's Health Care Reform Act taxes and fees instead of renewing them virtually unchanged, Bill Hammond testified. Read More
Lawmakers should allow the state's surcharge on high incomes to expire because of its volatility as a revenue source and its impact on the state's competitiveness, E.J. McMahon, the Empire Center's research director, testified. Read More
"It’s time to more closely scrutinize the entire overblown premise of New York State’s economic development programs." Read More
Lawmakers should reject the Thruway toll gimmicks in the budget, and should repair the 'cliff' in the state's estate tax, Empire Center president E.J. McMahon testified. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, testified before the Senate Labor Committee on the impact of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to impose a $15 statewide minimum wage. Read More