New York Census Records, some before there was a USA

The mission of CENSUS FINDER is to provide access to all available census records online. This includes both free and paid subscriptions. Our census directory can be found below.

NYS Counties SNAP (Food Stamps) Historical Benefits 1970-2010

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) increased SNAP benefits across the board as a way of delivering high “bang-for-the-buck” economic stimulus and easing hardship in response to the economic downturn. ARRA increased SNAP maximum monthly benefits by 13.6 percent beginning in April 2009.

ARRA provided that SNAP benefit levels would continue at the new higher amount until the program’s regular annual inflation adjustments to the maximum SNAP benefit exceeded those set by ARRA. The maximum SNAP benefit levels for each household size, which are set each October 1, are equal to the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) from the preceding June scaled to each household size. The TFP is the cost of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) food plan for a family of four to purchase and prepare a bare-bones diet at home. At the time ARRA was enacted, food price inflation was expected to be high and the TFP cost was expected to exceed the ARRA level in fiscal year 2014. Food price inflation, however, turned out to be lower than expected over the 2009 to 2013 period, resulting in the pushing out of the date that the TFP was expected to exceed the ARRA level.

More HERE.

Also, monthly NYC (not borough) and county SNAP actuals for households, persons and benefits are available from January 2002 forward in spreadsheet form on Open Data NY. The data are also broken out by Temporary Assistance (cases consisting entirely of cash assistance and/or Supplemental Security Assistance recipients) and non-TA.

Sales Tax - New online service

The Office of the Taxpayer Rights Advocate, an independent organization within the New York State Tax Department, is committed to helping New York State taxpayers by balancing taxpayer assistance against enforcement efforts.
This office:
-Provides free and independent assistance to taxpayers -Assists taxpayers whose tax problems are causing undue economic harm -Helps taxpayers who have been unable to resolve protracted tax problems through normal channels

If you need help, you are invited to use the new online service, Request for Assistance from the Office of the Taxpayer Rights Advocate.

Sales Tax Rates On Clothing, Footwear - Change on October 1, 2010

The exemption from New York State sales tax for clothing and footwear under $110 has been eliminated, for the period October 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011. Beginning October 1, 2010, clothing and footwear costing less than $110 will be subject to the 4% New York State sales and use tax and, if applicable, the ⅜% tax in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD) downstate. Local sales tax rates are not affected. This means:

For jurisdictions that did not enact an exemption from the local sales tax, all sales of clothing and footwear are subject to the full state and local sales tax.

For jurisdictions that provided for this exemption, only the New York State tax (and MCTD tax, if applicable) will be charged. These counties: Broome, Chautauqua, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Hamilton, Madison, Schuyler, Tioga County, Wayne will charge only the 4% state sales tax. New York City businesses will charge 4⅜% (the combined state tax and MCTD rate).

Updated Legislative Spending Posted on Internet

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada (D-Bronx), spent $880,201 on his legislative office operations and staff in the most recent six-month period reported by the Legislature -- nearly $273,000 more than former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick) spent during a comparable period in 2008.

Espada's office expenditures and those of other Senators and Assembly members for the six months ending March 31, 2010, was posted today as part of a searchable database on the Empire Center's government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Tim Hoefer - 518.434.3100

Personal Income Tax: Analysis of 2007 Personal Income Tax Returns

This report describes the prominent features of New York's personal income tax, with particular emphasis on the 2007 tax year. It also includes taxpayer profiles consisting of number of taxable returns, sources of income, federal adjustments, New York modifications, deductions, dependent exemptions, tax liability and credits by NYAGI class, filing status and=20 return type. In addition, it includes separate sections on income, itemized deduction amounts, exemptions, available credits and information on refundable credits. Finally, it compares statistics for 2007 with those from the prior year for most of these items.

Accompanying this report are statistical tables that cover resident, part-year resident, and nonresident returns. The report also includes a description and statistical information from returns filed by fiduciaries of estates and trusts.

Tax increases push states' revenues up, Rockefeller Institute reports

States’ overall tax revenues rose in the first quarter of calendar 2010 on a year-over-year basis, marking the first such gain since the third quarter of 2008, according to preliminary data in a new report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Despite the overall growth in revenues, however, a majority of states still saw declines, according to Institute Senior Policy Analyst Lucy Dadayan, the report’s author. The increase in total collections was mostly attributable to revenue growth driven by legislated tax increases in just two states — New York and California. If those two states are removed from the calculations, total collections across the nation show a 2.2 percent decline in the first quarter of 2010. And even with the boost from those two states, overall revenues remain significantly below pre-recession levels.
Further, early indications of revenues in the April-June quarter — marking the end of the fiscal year for 46 states — are not promising, as the important April collections from income taxes showed a 7.6 percent year-over-year decline.
For the full report, visit the Institute’s Web site. The report was covered this morning in The New York Times.

Taxation Call Center closed on May 21

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward today announced that the Department's call center will be closed on May 21 during a one-day furlough for unionized state employees, and that taxpayers will be able to use the Department's web site to transact business on that day.

To view the entire document please visit HERE.

In case you hadn't heard about the Census...

March 2010
Dear New Yorker,

Census forms have arrived at your address, and I am writing to remind you to take 10 minutes to fill-out the 10 questions for each person living in your home, and mail it back today.

The Census is safe and confidential. By law, no one other than the Census Bureau staff is allowed to see your questionnaire for 72 years – not even the President. As you know, the census is a count of every person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, living in the United States and its territories. It is required by the United States Constitution and is the foundation of our representative democracy.

The Census is important. Census data will be used to determine everything from how many representatives you get in our political system to how much money our State will receive from the federal government for essential services like education, affordable housing, and health care.

The Census is easy. I am asking all New Yorkers to fill out the census form for each person living in your home and mail it back today. If the Census Bureau does not receive your form, the Census Bureau workers will complete the count by knocking on the doors of households that did not return a census form.

If you need help completing your questionnaire, Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs) have been set up at community organizations and businesses throughout the state to make sure you have the necessary resources to complete your census form, including a staff person to answer census-related questions, language assistance, and Be Counted forms if you have misplaced or lost the original questionnaire. For information in English call 1-866-872-6868 or for help in the following languages call: Spanish: 1-866-928-2010; Chinese: 1-866-935-2010; Korean: 1-866-955-2010; Russian: 1-866-965-2010; Vietnamese: 1-866-945-2010. The TDD telephone number for assistance is 1-866-783-2010.

Please visit www.census2010.ny.gov to get up-to-date information on Census 2010 in New York State. You are New York, Make Yourself Count! Mail back your form TODAY!

Best,


David A. Paterson
Governor of New York State

Sales Tax Jurisdiction and Rate Lookup

If you have a mail order/Internet business in New York State, and you have NYS customers, you need to charge sales tax on the eligible items at the rate of the location of the purchaser. This can seem quite onerous.

Fortunately there is an electronic Sales Tax Jurisdiction and Rate Lookup. You type in the street address and ZIP Code and it will generate the correct rate. Incidentally, trying to find a list of sales tax rates by ZIP Code would be fruitless, since ZIP Codes are no respecters of county boundary.

One thing this lookup does NOT do, however, is to indicate which counties have set aside, at the county level, the sales tax on individual clothing items that cost $110 or less. You need to check this chart.

2009 State Payroll Posted Online

New Yorkers today can search the complete 2009 state government payroll on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website. The updated database includes names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by the 298,247 people who worked in the state's executive, legislative or judicial branches at any point last year.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen. 518.434.3100

New York State Constitution

Most of us are familiar with the provisions of the United States Constitution. But who knows what's in the New York State document? Well, HERE IT IS.

Western New York Legacy Web Site Gets a Facelift!

The Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC) is pleased to announce a makeover of the Western New York Legacy (WNYLegacy) web site, www.wnylegacy.org. WNYLegacy is freely available online, and contains thousands of digital images, documents, letters, maps, books, slides, and other items reflecting the rich cultural heritage of Western New York. The new site has been redesigned to include a new color scheme, a slideshow on the home page, improved searching capability, and an option to create a search box on your own web site.

Two collections are currently featured on the WNYLegacy home page: the Love Canal Collection from the University at Buffalo Libraries and the Bentley Snow Crystal Collection from the Buffalo Museum of Science. Visit www.wnylegacy.org today for access to these collections and much more from libraries and historical agencies in Western New York.

WNYLegacy is a project managed by WNYLRC in partnership with member libraries and institutions throughout the region. WNYLegacy also partners with and contributes to New York Heritage, www.nyheritage.org, an online site with access to digital collections from all over New York State.

Legislative Spending Posted on Internet

Office expenditures of individual state Senators and Assembly members for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 have been posted in a searchable format on the Empire Center's government transparency web site, www.SeeThroughNY.net.
The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen
518.434.3100

Governor Paterson to Deliver State of the State Address

Governor David Paterson will give his second State of the State Address on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:00 P.M. To watch a live webcast of the speech, please visit the Governor's website at www.ny.gov/governor.

Report on the Taxation of the Telecommunications Industry in New York State

"Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2009, Part NN mandated that the Department of Taxation and Finance, in consultation with the New York State Public Service Commission, conduct a study to examine the assessments, fees, tax rates, and associated policies of the state of New York as they relate to the telecommunications industry. The report" that can be found here is "the result of that mandate.

"The report proceeds by first providing a discussion of the scope and nature of the telecommunications industry in New York. The report then provides a basic discussion of all the taxes, fees, and assessments to which the industry is subject. Finally, the report culminates in the challenging task of presenting a matrix that attempts to show what taxes apply to the various services provided by the industry.

"This report is not an exhaustive examination of the tax issues affecting the telecommunications industry."

State Tax Department Plans Greater Responsiveness

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward announced this week new initiatives to ensure that the department is accessible and responsive to taxpayers.

To view the entire document please visit here.

Holocaust Victims Insurance Act of 1998

From NYLINE:

New York State insurance law was amended in 1998 to address claims by Holocaust victims, survivors and their heirs, that certain insurers doing business in New York, either directly or through affiliates, that issued policies prior to the end of World War II had failed to pay legitimate claims.

Language in legislation emphasizes that, "Outside of Israel, New York is home to the largest number of Holocaust survivors and their heirs in the world."

The Annual Report to the Governor and the New York State Legislature on "The Holocaust Victims Insurance Act of 1998" was issued by the New York State Insurance Department from 1999 through 2009.

The Annual Report, describing the involvement of New York State in the restitution of Holocaust era assets, is available in the New York State Library's digital documents management system.

Taxpayer Voluntary Disclosure Program Strikes Gold

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward today announced the first year results of the department's Voluntary Disclosure Program - a unique statutory program that provides amnesty-like benefits to delinquent taxpayers who reveal tax obligations unknown to the state and who voluntarily become tax compliant.

Between July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009, ...541 taxpayers completed the application process, filed their back tax returns and paid the state $31,333,864. Another 1,305 taxpayers accepted into the program have executed agreements and are in the process of preparing returns for their delinquent taxes.

To view the entire document please visit here.

New York State Senate and Assembly Payrolls Updated

An updated staff payroll for the New York State Senate and Assembly was posted this week at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's government transparency site for taxpayers. The payroll is fully searchable by name and title, and reflects the latest changes made in the Senate staff payroll. The payroll, current as of Aug. 17, can also be downloaded from the site in spreadsheet form.

For the full text of this press release, click here.

Contact: Tim Hoefer, 518.434.3100