Business

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Apple (AAPL: 583.98, -19.02, -3.15%) lowers its tax bill with various tax moves that involve using offices in lower tax regimes. Using analysis from a former Treasury economist, the New York Times reported that Apple “paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8%.”

The article goes on to say that Apple’s federal tax bill likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year without these moves.

State lawmakers approved New York’s first early budget in nearly three decades Friday — and that’s no joke. Gov. Cuomo hailed the adoption of the $132.6 billion budget as an “extraordinary feat” and said state government should no longer be considered a national punch line. More >

New York plans to overhaul the nation’s most expensive Medicaid health care system to save $18.3 billion over five years, and will ask the federal government for half of those savings, a state health department official said on Friday. More >

New York City will be paid more than $500 million by computer contractor SAIC in a
fraud case related to the company’s work for the city, officials
said on Wednesday. More >

Former New York Times Co (NYT.N) Chief Executive Janet Robinson received a total payout of nearly $24 million after she left the newspaper publisher at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Robinson, a 28-year veteran with the company, has yet to be replaced by Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr, who is temporarily acting in her place. Robinson’s package includes a $4.5 million consulting fee that The Times had agreed to pay as part of her exit package, as well as pension benefits and performance-related payments.

Wall Street cash bonuses for 2011 fell to their lowest level in three years as volatile trading and stiffer regulations took a toll on profits, New York State’s comptroller said Wednesday. More >

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Tuesday that it had completed the sale of a portfolio of risky mortgage securities once held by AIG, the insurer, for a profit.

The sale marks a “milestone” for the New York Fed’s efforts to liquidate distressed assets it accepted at the height of the financial crisis. It said the public will receive a “net gain” of $2.8bn, including $580m of accrued interest on the $19.5bn loan the New York Fed made to Maiden Lane II, a special entity created to buy securities as part of the bail-out of AIG.

In another sign of slow economic recovery in New York’s communities, sales tax revenue last year matched or exceeded pre-recession levels of 2008 in most parts of the state, according to a report released Tuesday. More >

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a lead investigator into the mortgage collapse that wobbled the U.S. economy, hasn’t taken the title “Sheriff of Wall Street” that one of his predecessors rode all the way to the governor’s mansion. But he’s not backing down, either.

He rejected a settlement with major banks a year ago because it shielded them from future investigations. For his efforts, he got bounced off a committee of attorneys general negotiating the settlement; more than 40 of them wanted to take the deal.

California and New York have agreed to join a federal-state settlement involving alleged deceptive practices by five leading mortgage servicing companies that could reach $25 billion.

New York and California were two of the most prominent holdouts from the settlement, which could be announced as soon as Thursday and has been under discussion for almost a year. As of Monday, more than 40 states had signed on to the deal.