The president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Michael
Widmer, will lead a discussion of the new Massachusetts individual
health mandate at the May 10 meeting of The Business Council’s
Health Committee.
Widmer will discuss the policy and politics of the new Massachusetts
Health law that requires individuals to buy a health insurance policy,
imposes an assessment on some businesses that do not offer health
insurance and creates a Health Insurance Connector to link individuals
and businesses with health insurance products
ALBANYSchool districts across New York State plan to increase per-pupil spending by twice the rate of inflation, and raise property taxes by more than $900 million, a new "School Tax Watch" study by The Public Policy Institute finds.
The proposed 2006-07 school budgets submitted for voter consideration on May 16 would raise average spending 6
Education, business costs, competitiveness, and economic development
are among the primary concerns New Yorkers from all regions of the
state identified at a series of regional meetings hosted by Business
Council Chairman Linda Sanford.
Sanford, a vice president at IBM, summarized the concerns of participants
in an April 24 letter addressed to the more than 200 business, education,
not-for-profit and government leaders she met with at the eight
regional meetings
New York’s local property taxes grew three times the rate
of inflation between 2000 and 2005, a new report from state Comptroller
Alan Hevesi’s office has found.
“New York taxpayers’ property tax burden is nearly
50 percent higher than the national average and shockingly, for
areas outside of New York City, 73 percent higher than the national
average,” Hevesi said
Representatives from The Business Council of New York State and
other business groups have been touring New York over the past few
weeks, reminding lawmakers and the media about the harmful effect
of the state’s workers’ compensation system on employers
and the economy
New York’s high school graduation rate is the third lowest
in the nation and far below the national average, a new study from
the Manhattan Institute has found.
In New York 58 percent of the class of 2003 graduated within four
years, far behind the national average of 70 percent, the study
found
A controversial proposal to impose a new health insurance mandate
and tax on many New York State employers could cost the state up
to 100,000 jobs and impose $9.2 billion in new taxes on businesses,
a new study by a University of Kentucky economist shows
New York's combined state and local sales tax rates range from
7 percent to 9.5 percent, among the highest rates in the nation,
Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office found in a new report on local
government sales tax.
"Sales tax rates in New York State are much higher than the
national average," Hevesi said
The Business Council has launched a new Web-based electronic-advocacy
campaign to show lawmakers the strong statewide opposition to numerous
health insurance mandate proposals circulating in Albany.
“These bills do nothing to help the real problem—the
overall cost of health insurance,” the introduction says
New Yorkers' spending on public schools is second-highest in the
country, according to new statistics published by the U.S. Census
Bureau.
As of 2003-04, New York schools spent an average of $12,930 per
pupil. That was 56 percent above the national average of $8,287,
and virtually tied with New Jersey, which spent $12,981