Transportation Infrastructure and New
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND NEW YORK’S COMPETITIVENESS A Background Paper by the Citizens Budget Commission June 29, 1999 FOREWORD Founded in 1932, the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organization devoted to influencing constructive change in the finances and services of New York State and New York City governments. This report was prepared under the auspices of the CBC’s Competitiveness Committee, which we co- chair. The other members of the Committee are Deborah Buresh, Lawrence B. Buttenwieser, Herman R. Charbonneau, Denis V. Curtin, Karen Daly, Morton Egol, Patricia O’Donnell Ewers, Bud H. Gibbs, William H. Hayden, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, Peter A. Joseph, Ellen Oran Kaden, Walter T. Kicinski, Marianne E. Kozlowski, William P. Lauder, Frank J. McLoughlin, Felix A. Orbe, Laurence G. Preble, Carol Raphael, Arthur H. Rosenbloom, Heather L. Ruth, Lee S. Saltzman, Joseph V. Salzano, Richard B. Teiman, W. James Tozer, Ronald G. Weiner, Robin L. Wiessmann, and Eugene Keilin, ex-officio. The Competitiveness Committee was created in early 1997 with a mandate to follow up on an important finding of the CBC’s December 1996 report, Budget 2000 Project. The Commission found that New York City and New York State suffered from high tax burdens on residents and businesses. The Commission, in its 1996 report, made recommendations to reform and to reduce State and local taxes to make New York more competitive, and several of these recommendations have been acted upon. However, the CBC also recognized that an area’s economic competitiveness is not determined by taxes alone. State and local governments enhance the competitiveness of their jurisdictions by delivering high quality services and providing well- functioning public infrastructure.
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