News

04
Oct
2002
A vocal advocate of higher taxes and more government spending is urging Albany to increase taxes by as much as $3 billion - even though its analysis acknowledges that tax increases can be harmful to an economy. The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), which is funded primarily by public-employee unions in Albany and which also receives funding from left-of-center foundations, made the call in New York State's 2003-04 Economic and Budget Outlook, a brief report published on its Web site, www
03
Oct
2002
Consumers whose employers provide health insurance for them generally have little idea how much the insurance costs and what the money goes for, a new poll by Zogby International suggests. The poll of some 800 upstate consumers was commissioned by Excellus Inc
30
Sep
2002
ALBANY—The Business Council of New York State has released what Council President Daniel B. Walsh is calling a "love letter" to upstate New York: a new book on the economic, natural, and cultural assets of upstate. Upstate New York: Corridor to Progress, by Stephen W. Bell, was produced "to spread the good news about upstate and all it has to offer to individuals, businesses, and institutions," said Business Council President Daniel B
30
Sep
2002
Driven by increases in costs of hospital care, spending on health care jumped 10 percent in 2001, the first double-digit increase in more than a decade, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) published Sept
30
Sep
2002
Governor George Pataki today signed into law a bill designed to prevent employers that receive any state funds from discussing unions or their organizing efforts in any way. The Business Council opposed the bill, which was conceived and promoted by labor leader Dennis Rivera and other union officials
27
Sep
2002
Driven by increases in costs of hospital care, spending on health care jumped 10 percent in 2001, the first double-digit increase in more than a decade, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) published Sept. 25 on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs
27
Sep
2002
ALBANY—New York's business community is "appalled at the substantial, and in some cases massive, corporate wrongdoing that has been reported over the last year," and business leaders and the New York Stock Exchange have already initiated aggressive programs to restore public trust in corporations and corporate governance, Business Council President Daniel B
26
Sep
2002
Recent corporate tax increases in New Jersey may make New York State look like a "tax haven" in comparison, a state and local tax practitioner has argued. New Jersey's recent tax increases on businesses "drastically alter New Jersey's corporate tax landscape, making it inhospitable to large corporations," Glenn Newman wrote in an article entitled Did New Jersey Turn New York Into a Tax Haven? "Moreover, a comparison of New Jersey's new regime with New York's corporate tax system, which for more than 50 years has been structured to accommodate and attract such companies to locate their headquarters in New York, could encourage a migration across the border to the tax haven of New York," Newman wrote
26
Sep
2002
Before the  Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Senate Committee on Investigations and  The Senate Committee on Higher Education September 27, 2002 Chairman Spano, Chairman LaValle, Chairman Brodsky, and other distinguished members of the Legislature: We appreciate the opportunity to participate in these very important hearings to address some of the issues you raised regarding corporate responsibility
24
Sep
2002
New York State must cut taxes further and enact other reforms to keep manufacturing jobs in the state, leaders of several manufacturing companies agreed during a panel discussion at The Business Council's Annual Meeting