The state Senate Wednesday passed a major tax-cut package and a budget
bill that includes $782 million in funding to create jobs by investing
in research, infrastructure, education, and worker re-training.
The Senate tax package includes:
Cuts in taxes on utilities for generating, transmitting, and distributing
electricity ($270 million)
The state Senate has voted to repeal the ton mileage tax, one of the
priorities in The Business Council's 1999 tax reduction proposals.
"New York's ton mileage tax increases the costs to businesses throughout
the state, particularly in upstate New York, that rely heavily on trucks
to deliver products," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said
Governor Pataki remains committed to two key workers' compensation reforms
that were not part of the 1996 reform package, aides to Governor Pataki
said Wednesday.
The reforms are a cap on benefits on permanent partial disability payments
and the use of objective medical guidelines to determine the level of
impairment in these cases
Bulletin #12: June 8, 1999
Please, Mr. Rivera, look at the facts about Medicaid
The debate over Medicaid spending is turning into a political campaign. The union representing thousands of hospital workers in New York City has announced a $1 million television and radio buy around the state - and the union says it is prepared to spend further millions - to scare New Yorkers about the Medicaid reforms Governor Pataki has proposed
Bulletin #11: June 7, 1999
Medicaid costs far too much - we can't go backward now
New York's hugely expensive Medicaid program may become even more costly in the next few weeks. Cost-saving measures that Governor Pataki and the Legislature enacted in recent years are scheduled to expire after June 30
In testimony, Reinfurt warns that withheld diplomas may raise a call
to relax standards New York should expect-and strongly resist-pressure
to relax its new, high academic standards if many students fail to meet
those standards and do not earn diplomas on time next year.
"Only in New York is the education reform movement really facing the
bottom line by saying: No, we will not give you a high-school diploma
until we've given you a high-school education," Ed Reinfurt, vice president
of The Business Council, said Wednesday at a legislative hearing on the
new Regents standards for high schools
ALBANY—Eliminating New York's ton mileage tax would help New York
move its recovery into a much faster lane, and New York's business community
is delighted that the state Senate has acted today to do that.
New York is one of only six states that impose the ton mileage tax.
The closest state that imposes such a tax is Georgia
Bulletin #10: June 3, 1999
New York's disproportionate spending on training of MDs
New York spends more on Medicaid than any other state--by far. In fact, our Medicaid spending per capita is $1,177, a staggering 155 percent above the national average and more than Medicaid spending in Texas and California combined
New York State, which is ahead of the curve in the nation's push for education
reform, is going to face a very tough test as a State next year when reality sets
in and we see what an abstract concept like "higher standards" means in
practice. And the rest of the nation is watching what we will do
The state Department of Taxation and Finance Wednesday announced a 30-day
postponement in implementing the state sales tax on energy transmission.
Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh had urged a delay in a May
27 letter to Arthur Roth, acting commissioner of taxation and finance