By Steve Levy
https://www.liherald.com/stories/steve-levy-new-yorks-dirty-dozen-laws-make-the-state-unaffordable,223961?
New York ranks among the most highly taxed states in America. Unaffordability continues to resonate as the state’s most pressing issue, which led to an exodus of over 400,000 people in 2024 alone.
The way to reserve higher taxes is to identify the primary causes of the dramatic rise in spending over past decades and to promote legislation to reverse course. Our center’s white paper highlights the “dirty dozen” laws contributing to the affordability crisis:
1. Overtime beefing up pensions. Government workers put in extraordinary OT hours in their last years to inflate the base pay for their pensions. This pension escalator will cost taxpayers $50 billion to $80 billion over the next two decades. Workers also receive defined-benefit contributions, with taxpayers guaranteeing the same monthly payment regardless of stock market fluctuations, unlike private-sector defined-contribution systems, which rise or fall with the market.
2. Full coverage of health care benefits for many employees and retirees. Some public retirees contribute nothing to their health care packages, and have their Medigap and Medicare Part B costs covered by taxpayers, resulting in a long-term obligation of $360 billion for public-sector health care in New York.
3. Mandatory arbitration that hikes police salaries to unsustainable levels. Annual pay for many veteran Suffolk police officers exceeds $225,000. Unions have no incentive to extend givebacks because they can always get favorable rulings from arbitrators.
4. The Triborough Amendment for public employees provides step salary increases even after a contract expires, making negotiations difficult for management. A step may be 2 to 4 percent above the negotiated annual increase.
5. Retirement after 20 years of service. Taxpayers might pay four different people for one law enforcement position. When the original officer turns 82, taxpayers will be paying for his retirement and that of three others for that position.
6. Inefficient school spending. New York pays almost twice the national average per pupil — over $30,000 — yet is surpassed in student performance by about half of the other states. The state’s Excelsior program provides free college tuition not just for working-class students, but for the upper middle as well. And free public-school lunches are now provided for the children of millionaires.
Pre-school programs, which have not shown a correlation in improving scores, continue to expand at alarming costs. New York City imposed a cap of 20 students per class, which is so expensive that it had to be delayed. And cost-efficient charter schools, which provide better student outcomes, have been capped in New York.
7. The expansion of the nonworking population and the Medicaid program. Government welfare programs have led to four in 10 eligible workers staying home instead of working. Meanwhile, one in three New Yorkers is now on Medicaid.
8. The scaffold law holds building owners liable for any workplace injury of a contracted worker. The mandate adds $785 million in unnecessary spending on the construction of buildings in the state.
9. Disability abuse allows an employee to sit at home, collecting up to 100 percent of his salary tax-exempt — more money than if he returned to work. Retirees with accidental disability coverage will be eligible to receive 75 percent of their income at retirement, also tax-free. According to the Empire Center, in 2022, roughly 60 percent of firefighters who retired had disability pensions.
10. The Wicks Law requires the use of multiple contractors for plumbing, gas, ventilation and electrical work on public buildings with costs exceeding $500,000. According to a representative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the law often adds 10 percent to cost estimates for city projects.
11. Illegal alien expenses. The state spent over $4 billion on caring for asylum seekers, while the city budgeted roughly $10 billion, from 2022 to 2026. Illegal immigrants obtain state health benefits through various sources. Those who reach age 65 are entitled to state Medicaid coverage, while undocumented children get the Child Health Plus program, and pregnant undocumented women are eligible for prenatal care.
12. Sick day abuse. Under New York state’s Retirement and Social Security Law, public employees receive credit for unused sick days at retirement, with payments sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Steve Levy is executive director of the Center for Cost Effective Government, a fiscally conservative think tank. He has served as Suffolk County executive, as an assemblyman, and as host of the podcast “On the Right Side.”
A Jewish State Not in Mamdani’s, Left’s Worldview
July 29, 2026By Steve Levy
https://www.liherald.com/stories/steve-levy-new-yorks-dirty-dozen-laws-make-the-state-unaffordable,223961?
The way to reserve higher taxes is to identify the primary causes of the dramatic rise in spending over past decades and to promote legislation to reverse course. Our center’s white paper highlights the “dirty dozen” laws contributing to the affordability crisis:
1. Overtime beefing up pensions. Government workers put in extraordinary OT hours in their last years to inflate the base pay for their pensions. This pension escalator will cost taxpayers $50 billion to $80 billion over the next two decades. Workers also receive defined-benefit contributions, with taxpayers guaranteeing the same monthly payment regardless of stock market fluctuations, unlike private-sector defined-contribution systems, which rise or fall with the market.
2. Full coverage of health care benefits for many employees and retirees. Some public retirees contribute nothing to their health care packages, and have their Medigap and Medicare Part B costs covered by taxpayers, resulting in a long-term obligation of $360 billion for public-sector health care in New York.
3. Mandatory arbitration that hikes police salaries to unsustainable levels. Annual pay for many veteran Suffolk police officers exceeds $225,000. Unions have no incentive to extend givebacks because they can always get favorable rulings from arbitrators.
4. The Triborough Amendment for public employees provides step salary increases even after a contract expires, making negotiations difficult for management. A step may be 2 to 4 percent above the negotiated annual increase.
5. Retirement after 20 years of service. Taxpayers might pay four different people for one law enforcement position. When the original officer turns 82, taxpayers will be paying for his retirement and that of three others for that position.
6. Inefficient school spending. New York pays almost twice the national average per pupil — over $30,000 — yet is surpassed in student performance by about half of the other states. The state’s Excelsior program provides free college tuition not just for working-class students, but for the upper middle as well. And free public-school lunches are now provided for the children of millionaires.
Pre-school programs, which have not shown a correlation in improving scores, continue to expand at alarming costs. New York City imposed a cap of 20 students per class, which is so expensive that it had to be delayed. And cost-efficient charter schools, which provide better student outcomes, have been capped in New York.
7. The expansion of the nonworking population and the Medicaid program. Government welfare programs have led to four in 10 eligible workers staying home instead of working. Meanwhile, one in three New Yorkers is now on Medicaid.
8. The scaffold law holds building owners liable for any workplace injury of a contracted worker. The mandate adds $785 million in unnecessary spending on the construction of buildings in the state.
9. Disability abuse allows an employee to sit at home, collecting up to 100 percent of his salary tax-exempt — more money than if he returned to work. Retirees with accidental disability coverage will be eligible to receive 75 percent of their income at retirement, also tax-free. According to the Empire Center, in 2022, roughly 60 percent of firefighters who retired had disability pensions.
10. The Wicks Law requires the use of multiple contractors for plumbing, gas, ventilation and electrical work on public buildings with costs exceeding $500,000. According to a representative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the law often adds 10 percent to cost estimates for city projects.
11. Illegal alien expenses. The state spent over $4 billion on caring for asylum seekers, while the city budgeted roughly $10 billion, from 2022 to 2026. Illegal immigrants obtain state health benefits through various sources. Those who reach age 65 are entitled to state Medicaid coverage, while undocumented children get the Child Health Plus program, and pregnant undocumented women are eligible for prenatal care.
12. Sick day abuse. Under New York state’s Retirement and Social Security Law, public employees receive credit for unused sick days at retirement, with payments sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Steve Levy is executive director of the Center for Cost Effective Government, a fiscally conservative think tank. He has served as Suffolk County executive, as an assemblyman, and as host of the podcast “On the Right Side.”
@SteveLevyNY
Related posts
A Jewish State Not in Mamdani’s, Left’s Worldview
Read more
Albany will betray taxpayers by undoing Tier 6 reforms
Read more
Don’t Vote for Those Undoing Pension Reforms
Read more