By Margarita Mayo
In business we must listen to our customers or we eventually
go out of business. Education has customers too--the most
important of whom are the students. Their voice was captured
in a Public Agenda Foundation report called Getting By:
What American Teenagers Really Think About their Schools
Action in Albany to reform state mandates and New York's
civil justice system would help reduce local taxes and improve
services of municipal governments, local elected officials
told key lawmakers this week.
New York City Mayor Rudolph W
Private sector work-related injuries and illnesses declined
by 20,000 cases to reach a record low in New York in 1997--despite
a jump of more than 200,000 persons in the workforce.
The state Department of Labor said private industry workplaces
reported 248,100 non-fatal work-related injury and illness
cases
ALBANY—Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh today praised
Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette, D-Queens, for introducing legislation that
would impose criminal penalties on anyone who solicits lawsuits at the
scene of an accident.
Assemblyman Lafayette's bill, A.2022, would create a Class A misdemeanor
for "unlawful solicitation of a tort victim
Prepared by the staff of The Business Council
January 29, 1999
Issue Areas (Staff Contacts):
OVERVIEW
Construction
Economic Development
Education & Job Training
Environment
Health
Labor & Welfare Reform
Taxation
Technology
Transportation
Workers' Compensation
Overview
Governor Pataki's 1999-2000 Executive Budget includes a number of major provisions that will further improve New York's business climate
ALBANY—Given New York State's historically high taxes, cutting
taxes means creating jobs. The proof lies in the tremendous gains our
economy has made in the last four years, as taxes have been reduced again
and again. Further tax cuts - such as those proposed by the Governor,
and by Senator Bruno - will mean still more new jobs for working New
Yorkers
Governor Pataki announced his proposed budget will include
more than $350 million in new business tax cuts, including
several of The Business Council's top priorities for tax
reform in the coming year.
"Our policies of cutting taxes, reforming workers' compensation
and eliminating unnecessary regulations have directly led
to the creation of more than 419,000 new, private-sector
jobs," the Governor said
For the second consecutive year, The Business Council has
helped New York's business community effectively reduce its
own taxes by pre-paying unemployment insurance (UI) taxes.
Because businesses pre-paid more than $62 million in UI
taxes in December, UI taxes on all employers in the state
will be reduced by some $210 million in 1999, said Business
Council President Daniel B
A representative group of The Business Council's Directors
discussed The Council's top legislative priorities with Governor
George Pataki at a meeting January 19.
Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh and Board members
briefed the Governor on The Council's top priorities for
1999: tax cuts, health care cost containment, tort reform,
and workforce development
STATE OF NEW YORK
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER
GEORGE E. PATAKI, GOVERNOR
Governor George E. Pataki today announced his 1999-2000 Executive Budget
will include a plan to reduce the State's income tax for nearly five
million taxpayers by $600 million, reducing the tax burden on a typical
middle-income family by about $150 per year by 2003