What's The [Data] Point? Episode 108 -- $209 Billion, Examining The New York State Budget [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

$209 billion is the total amount to be spent this state fiscal year according to New York State's Enacted Budget for Fiscal Year 2022. That massive budget, adopted in early April, was bolstered by immense federal aid and higher than expected tax revenues as New York comes out of the devastation of the covid

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 101 -- $7.4 Billion, with EJ McMahon  [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

$7.4 billion is how much New York State personal income tax was paid in 2018 by residents of other states. This revenue stream may be threatened if a lawsuit over taxation of out-of-state telecommuting residents prevails. Today's guest, the Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon, explains why this lawsuit is so important, and also

Major challenges now & ahead for Mayor & Governor (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)

New York has weathered financial storms before, including after the 2008 recession and the September terror attacks in 2001. But the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to eclipse the scope of both those emergencies. The fiscal impact on the economy is impossible to predict with any certainty but suffice it to say, it will put a major dent in the city’s and state’s budgets for the coming fiscal year.

In January, Governor Andrew Cuomo ...

Gov. Cuomo and top aides (photo: The Governor's Office)

With the state facing a larger than usual expected budget shortfall for its next fiscal year, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been railing against the devastating impact proposed federal tax reforms would have on New York state finances.

The controversial reform plan that is still being negotiated in Washington, D.C. would either modify or completely eliminate the ability of New Yorkers to deduct state and local taxes from federal tax burdens and likely have deep economic impact for

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, right (photo: @NYSComptroller)

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is calmly ringing alarm bells about the New York economy and budget outlook. DiNapoli, the state’s chief fiscal officer, recently announced that overall tax collections for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 -- April through July -- fell by $1.2 billion from the same period last year, a decrease of 6.1% in revenue.

Not only did tax revenues decrease by $1.2 billion from the prior year, but they were also $1.7 billion below a projection made by the Comptroller’s

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office on flickr)

Since his time as attorney general, Governor Andrew Cuomo has painted a picture of New York as a state cluttered by redundant and inefficient municipalities, attributing the state’s notoriously high property taxes in large part to a bureaucratic web of overlapping government services.

Cuomo’s latest attempt to detangle the web is an incentivized competition challenging two or more local governments to come up with a bold consolidation plan as a way to cut spending, increase efficiency, and lower property

(photo via The Governor's Office)

After months of deliberating, a commission tasked with recommending salary adjustments for state lawmakers and executive branch employees met for the final time on Nov. 15 and did not suggest raises. The salary of New York state legislators has remained the same since 1999, and could stay unchanged until the commission meets again in another four years, as established by the 2015 law

Cuomo, left, and DiNapoli, middle, in 2012 (photo: The Governor's Office)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent assertion that Comptroller Tom DiNapoli should “educate himself” and that the comptroller’s audits on state economic development projects are “dead wrong” and “opinion” drew a lot of attention. Many Albany observers took it as a sign of Cuomo’s growing sensitivity to criticism about his signature projects.

Those projects, like the Buffalo Billion, are the subject of a

Gov. Cuomo at his State of the State (via The Governor's Office)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2016-2017 budget proposal has legislators and budget experts scratching their heads as to how major capital projects will be paid for, how the state plans to make good on a promise to fund the MTA, and how certain measures might affect funding for New York City. Many are wondering if the governor will keep his pledge that his plan to shift millions in costs for CUNY and Medicaid "won't cost New York City a penny."

These questions linger almost two months

Cuomo and Heastie (photo: The Governor's Office)

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's Twitter account lit up Tuesday with a stream of "fun facts" about income inequality and his proposed millionaire's tax just a day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed the plan.

Fun Fact: New Yorkers earning more than $10 Million pay only 16.2% of NY’s taxes

...