News

17
Oct
2005
States wishing to remain competitive for international investment in today’s business climate should reduce or eliminate corporate taxes entirely, according to a new study by the Tax Foundation. The study, released in early October by the Tax Foundation, found that many state lawmakers are revamping corporate tax structures in order to make their tax systems “more competitive for jobs and investment in the international marketplace
17
Oct
2005
An unusually diverse group of individuals and organizations outlined reasons voters should reject a proposed constitutional amendment on this November's ballot. “I don’t see how you’d call this reform. I don’t see how this can conceivably be called good government," said Frank Mauro, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute and widely recognized advocate for generally liberal fiscal policy
14
Oct
2005
ALBANY—A diverse group of organizations and individuals opposed to a proposed constitutional amendment to radically overhaul New York's budget process will outline different arguments against it at a news conference at 10 a.m. Monday, October 17, in the LCA press room in the Legislative Office Building in Albany
14
Oct
2005
Relieving traditional communication providers from burdensome regulations will benefit New York’s economy and New York residents, The Business Council has told the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC.) In testimony presented October 11 to the PSC, the Council’s director of energy and telecommunications issues, Anne Van Buren, said non-traditional communications companies, such as wireless providers, are quickly moving into the market
13
Oct
2005
New York's high wages and labor costs are partly to blame for the current troubles of Delphi Corporation's Lockport Plant in Buffalo, Delphi’s CEO Robert S. Miller said at a press conference on Wednesday, October 12. Miller told reporters that New York’s workers’ compensation rates add $3 per hour to the company’s labor costs
12
Oct
2005
ALBANY—Former New York State Governor Hugh L. Carey has agreed to chair Stop the Amendment, a new coalition of think tanks, fiscal-policy experts, good-government groups, former state budget officials, and business groups that is united in its opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would radically change New York’s budget-making process
03
Oct
2005
New York's spending has grown nearly three times the rate of inflation since 2001, according to a new report from state Comptroller Alan Hevesi. The report, an annual analysis of state finances, found that state spending totaled $101.1 billion in fiscal 2005, “an increase of $3
28
Sep
2005
ALBANY—Significant changes must be made to the proposed Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to minimize impacts on the economy of the Northeast, business association leaders in nine northeastern states wrote in a collective letter to their respective Governors. In the September 22 letter to Governor George Pataki and his counterparts in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont, the organizations criticized the plan as likely to drive electric prices higher for businesses and residents
27
Sep
2005
The proposed constitutional amendment is not real reform and, if passed by voters this November, would virtually guarantee higher spending and late budgets, said Alair Townsend, publisher of Crain’s New York Business. “New York spends too much, and it has the second-highest state and local tax burden in the nation to support this spending,” Townsend wrote in the September 26 issue of the influential business weekly
26
Sep
2005
The proposed state constitutional amendment on the budget is a “perfidious power grab by the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation,” Assemblyman Patrick Manning (R-Dutchess County) told business leaders gathered at The Business Councils Annual Meeting last week in Bolton Landing