By NYS Senator Tom O'Mara:
It’s economic death by a thousand taxes in New York State.
Reports continue reminding us that too many New Yorkers remain straitjacketed by high taxes preventing them from keeping hard-earned income within the family budget, expanding a business or an industry that creates local jobs, and restricting economic and financial freedom in so many ways.
In its latest analysis of taxes in all 50 states in America, New York placed third on the public-finance publication Kiplinger’s list of the “least tax-friendly states.” Equally noteworthy, the Tax Foundation just ranked New York 49th on its 2020 State Business Tax Climate Index.
These are the latest in a long string of rankings consistently placing New York at or near the bottom of worst-in-America positions on taxes, business climate, government debt, government spending, and so forth.
Most recently comes news that JP Morgan Chase & Co., a cornerstone of the state’s financial industry for centuries, is moving thousands of jobs out of New York. “The moves are a response to a variety of forces that weigh on companies doing business in New York, including high taxes,” one report noted.
Like I said, it’s death by a thousand cuts.
Governor Andrew Cuomo took his turn at the helm in 2011 proclaiming that, “New York State has no future as the tax capital to the nation.” He held out hope for steering the state on a different course. Nearly a decade later, the governor’s tax-cutting focus has eroded. Lately, in fact, it has become all about government spending. The Cuomo price tag for future generations of New York taxpayers could be stunning.
At the start, the governor stressed the importance of “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Many of us on the opposite side of the political aisle welcomed the focus. Now, early in his third term, many Upstate New York legislators (count me firmly among them) are increasingly alarmed that Governor Cuomo’s job tank is literally running on the fumes of its original commitment. It’s being refueled, instead, by so-called progressive, Democrat Socialist, far left tax-and-spend priorities that are the political flavor of the moment among many in the governor’s own party.
The pro-taxpayer advocacy organization Unshackle Upstate reacted this way to Kiplinger’s recent rankings, “Unfortunately, New York's high tax culture makes it too expensive for some to stay here. Albany needs to take aggressive action to make our state affordable, or risk losing more families to friendlier tax climates.”
The loss of more families, as well as more small business owners, manufacturers, and other job producers, I would add.
Approaching the start of a new legislative session, we should be talking about renewing a commitment to lowering taxes across the board and stopping overregulation – not about spending more taxpayer dollars. Taking steps like comprehensive regulatory reform and tax relief are fundamentally important to reclaiming Upstate New York’s rightful place in this economy.
I share with Unshackle Upstate and other advocates a number of fundamentally common goals for the future of the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and the entire Upstate region. These overriding goals include fiscal discipline and responsibility at every level of government; development of the state’s energy and transportation infrastructures; tax relief, particularly property tax relief which, as many of us know, is entirely dependent on relieving the burden of unfunded state mandates on local governments, especially Medicaid; workforce development; broadband expansion; and a renewed focus on regulatory reform.
Instead of talking about how to spend more and find the taxpayers to pay for it, we need a blueprint for common sense.
