News

07
Mar
2006
New York State should implement its new renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in a way that minimizes increases in New York’s already high energy costs and ensures that the reliability of New York’s electricity system is not undermined, The Business Council told two Assembly committees in testimony today
07
Mar
2006
Despite spending 48 percent more than the per-pupil national average, New York ranks 24th in academic achievement among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, a new analysis of education by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) shows. "Again this year, [ALEC's] Report Card on American Education finds no evident correlation between increasing conventional measures of educational inputs—such as dramatic increases in education spending or keeping pupil-teacher ratios at a very low level—and improving student achievement—such as average scores on standardized tests," Georgia State Representative and 2005 ALEC Chairman Earl Ehrhart wrote in the report's introduction
03
Mar
2006
The first element in helping New York create an innovation-driven economy is making businesses more competitive by reducing the state’s “excessive” property tax burden, lowering energy costs, reforming workers’ compensation and lowering the cost of health insurance, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in remarks before business leaders at the Rochester Institute of Technology
01
Mar
2006
New York State will continue to lag far behind the rest of the nation in creating jobs this year and in 2007, the state's fiscal experts and independent economists agreed. Leaders of Governor Pataki's Budget Division and the Legislature's fiscal committees heard from outside economic experts Wednesday, in the state's annual Economic and Revenue Consensus Forecasting Conference, after the legislative analysts issued their own forecasts
01
Mar
2006
The Republican Senate Majority has strengthened its proposal to reduce New York’s tax burden, saying its revised plan would return $8.4 billion to property taxpayers, businesses, and energy consumers. The Senate's plan includes a proposal to eliminate income taxes on manufacturers, saving them an estimated $600 million a year
01
Mar
2006
A new coalition of business leaders and associations Wednesday urged state lawmakers to enact cost-cutting workers’ compensation reforms. “New York State’s broken workers’ compensation system is costing jobs, hurting businesses, and treating injured workers unfairly, and it is in desperate need of reform,” the coalition said in a release
27
Feb
2006
The overall business-tax climate in New York is the worst among the 50 states, and that's bad news for the state's economic performance, a new report by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation concludes. "Although the market is now global, the Department of Labor reports that most mass job relocations are from one U
23
Feb
2006
Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-Erie County) has proposed eliminating the state’s corporate franchise tax for manufacturers. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has already advanced a similar proposal. The Council is supporting the proposal and says the move will help the vital sector of the state’s economy
23
Feb
2006
The state’s corporate franchise tax for manufacturers would be eliminated under a new proposal by Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D- Tonawanda). The Council is supporting the proposal and says the move will help the vital sector of the state’s economy
16
Feb
2006
While capping the growth in county Medicaid costs eased local taxpayer burdens, more needs to be done at the state level to rein in Medicaid spending and prevent a fiscal crisis, according to a new study by the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center. “From Headache to Migraine” was written by Tarren Bragdon, a health policy analyst for the Empire Center