Lawmakers in New York tweaked the tax code just enough to reduce overall taxes by about 1 percent in the first half of this year, according to a new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
So far this year, New York is one of three states – Idaho and Kansas being the other two – that reduced taxes, according to the NCSL’s State Tax Update report released this month. The report examined tax trends in all 50 states.
After allowing the tax surcharge for high-income taxpayers – $250,000 a year for individuals, $300,000 for families – to expire at the end of last year, New York lawmakers restructured personal income tax brackets for 2012 through 2014, the report says, dropping rates in all brackets.
New tax rates as of January 1, 2012 (married, filing jointly)
The report also cites other tax-reduction measures. State lawmakers reduced the corporate income tax rate for manufacturers for three years – from 6.5 percent down to 3.25 percent – and approved a one-year corporate income tax credit for job retention and a youth jobs credit of $500 per month per employee. Recently, legislation passed to increase tax credits for film production in the state.
Overall, NCSL said it has been a quiet year for taxes. Nationally, taxpayers through the first half of this year received an aggregate tax cut of 0.2 percent, the smallest in the 32-year history of the report.
Read the full report below. For more information on tax rates in New York, click here.
