When Does Sales Tax Apply?
futureofcapitalism.com

New York state officials draw some awfully fine distinctions about what products are subject to sales tax and what products are exempt, my former New York Sun colleague Jacob Gershman reports in the Wall Street Journal:

the 4% sales tax does apply to graphic novels. The reason is that the state classifies them as books, not periodicals, like magazines, which are exempt. For a comic book to escape the clutches of the tax collector, it must be published at "stated intervals at least four times a year"

And:

Months before Halloween, the state opined on haunted houses and whether tickets sales are subject to sales tax.

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NY's Medicaid Boom
futureofcapitalism.com

Jacob Gershman, my former colleague at the New York Sun, has a piece in the Wall Street Journal today about New York's 5 millionth Medicaid patient:

Over the past decade, more than two million people were added to New York's Medicaid rolls, an increase of nearly 75%. In 2001, 15% of the population was on Medicaid. That percentage is now at 26%, about 10 points higher than the national average....In recent years, the state eliminated resources tests, allowing most applicants to attest their family assets. It also stopped requiring face-to-face interviews, switching to mail-in applications.

Last year, the state health department posted online tips explaining how people with too much income for Medicaid can still get into the system.

Read More...

NY's Medicaid Boom
futureofcapitalism.com

Jacob Gershman, my former colleague at the New York Sun, has a piece in the Wall Street Journal today about New York's 5 millionth Medicaid patient:

Over the past decade, more than two million people were added to New York's Medicaid rolls, an increase of nearly 75%. In 2001, 15% of the population was on Medicaid. That percentage is now at 26%, about 10 points higher than the national average....In recent years, the state eliminated resources tests, allowing most applicants to attest their family assets. It also stopped requiring face-to-face interviews, switching to mail-in applications.

Last year, the state health department posted online tips explaining how people with too much income for Medicaid can still get into the system.

Read More...

When Does Sales Tax Apply?
futureofcapitalism.com

New York state officials draw some awfully fine distinctions about what products are subject to sales tax and what products are exempt, my former New York Sun colleague Jacob Gershman reports in the Wall Street Journal:

the 4% sales tax does apply to graphic novels. The reason is that the state classifies them as books, not periodicals, like magazines, which are exempt. For a comic book to escape the clutches of the tax collector, it must be published at "stated intervals at least four times a year"

And:

Months before Halloween, the state opined on haunted houses and whether tickets sales are subject to sales tax.

Read More...