New York was one of just seven states that paid more tax dollars than it received back in spending, with a per capita deficit of $1,363. Per capita balance of payments is the difference between taxes paid to Washington and federal spending received. Only the neighboring states of New Jersey (-$2,792) and Massachusetts (-$1,419) fared worse.
Seven of the ten states with the largest positive balances
of payments were in the southern or southwestern parts of the country. New
Mexico had the top balance with a per capita surplus of $10,671, followed by
Mississippi ($8,939), Alaska ($8,727), West Virginia ($8,536) and Virginia
($8,189).
The gap has consistently remained negative from $19.9
billion in 2013 to $40.9 billion in 2016 and $24.1 billion in 2017. New York’s FFY 2018 balance of payments
deficit of $26.6 billion resulted from an increase of $4 billion in taxes paid
by New Yorkers and a $1.5 billion increase in federal spending in the state,
compared to FFY 2017.
Overall, New York generated 8 percent of the $3.2 trillion
in federal tax receipts in FFY 2018, nearly $254 billion, while receiving 6
percent or $227 billion of total federal spending examined for the analysis. On
a per capita basis, federal tax revenues from New York were more than a third
higher than the national average, partly because of higher incomes in the
state.
DiNapoli’s report also notes:
New York received $138.1 billion in direct payments
including those to individuals who receive Social Security, Medicare, benefits
for veterans and retired federal employees, and food assistance, which was
close to the average among states on a per capita basis. Major programs for
which the state received higher-than-average per capita expenditures include
Medicare, food assistance and Supplemental Security Income.
New York was second in the country in grants to state and
local governments, receiving $69.8 billion. Medicaid makes up more than half of
all federal spending for such grants and the state’s per capita Medicaid
funding from Washington ranked first among all states.
In two other major categories – procurement and federal
employee compensation – federal spending in New York was less than half of the
national average on a per capita basis. The state’s combined total, $19.3
billion, was 2.5 percent of the nationwide total.
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