The Public Ledgers

Following the money through public records

We analyze government financial records to show where public money goes, who benefits, and what it costs everyone else. Every finding is sourced from public data and reproducible.

Public records only Open methodology Independent research

What the data shows

$12.19B
in property tax exemptions shifted to NYS homeowners
$2,384
cumulative cost per household statewide
100%
project approval rate at Erie County IDA (2017 audit)
40%
of Erie County IDA beneficiaries donated to political campaigns

How we work

We collect public financial data: tax exemptions, campaign contributions, lobbying disclosures, corporate filings, and government budgets.

We cross-reference these datasets to identify patterns: who gives, who gets, and what happens to the jobs and tax revenue that were promised.

We publish findings with full methodology and source data so anyone can verify our work independently.

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The Public Ledgers is an independent project sustained by public interest. If this work is useful to you, consider supporting it.

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