New York takes more money out of its residents' pockets than any state in the country — 71 percent above the national average — and then spends it at levels that dwarf every mainland competitor, according to a new report that crystallizes exactly why taxpayers are fleeing the vampire state.
The Citizens Budget Commission, a non-partisan watchdog, released its fiscal year 2024 analysis Wednesday confirming what every working New Yorker already feels in their paycheck: the state's combined local and state tax burden ranks dead last in the nation — meaning residents carry the heaviest load. New York also spends more per capita than any mainland state, trailing only oil-flush Alaska.
The CBC didn't mince words. "Combined with New York's high cost of living and uneven public services, these fiscal burdens weaken New York's value proposition and its ability to attract and retain residents and businesses," the report stated. Translation: you pay more, you get less, and eventually you leave.
The numbers are staggering. New York collects $41 per $1,000 in personal income tax — 94 percent above the national average. It tops the chart in corporate taxes per $1,000 of GDP. It ranks third in property taxes, sixth in sales taxes, and 13th in all other levies. New York City even slaps a 6 percent commercial rent tax on Manhattan tenants south of 96th Street, plus a "Mobility Payroll Tax" on metro-area firms to fund the MTA.
The spending gap is equally brutal. New York spends 23 percent more per capita than Massachusetts, 40 percent more than New Jersey, and 96 percent more than Florida. Had New York's politicians spent like New Jersey, the state would have saved $99 billion. Had they spent like Texas, savings hit $143 billion.
Runaway Medicaid costs and per-student education spending drive the gap, the CBC found — the signature priorities of Democrat governance, funded on the backs of people who actually work for a living.
State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar didn't hedge. "New York is the vampire state. Vampires suck blood. New York politicians suck money out of your pocket and don't think twice about it," he told the New York Post. "The high taxes is one of the reasons New Yorkers leave the state."
The report lands in the final stretch of the governor's race, with Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul presiding over New York's dubious distinction as the nation's most-taxed state while facing Republican Bruce Blakeman.
Meanwhile, states that don't tax their residents into submission are building research infrastructure with federal dollars. The University of Arkansas just announced $1.95 million in NIH funding over five years for a biomedical research program — part of a congressionally mandated initiative for states that have historically received less NIH money. Nearly 350 undergraduates have gone through the program, and more than half have earned graduate degrees. Arkansas is building human capital. New York is extracting it.
The CBC's recommendation — hold the line on taxes, preferably cut them, and improve service quality — is the kind of advice that sounds obvious to anyone outside Albany. The question is whether any politician in the vampire state has the nerve to follow it.
