Over on our sister blog, Politics On The Hudson, business and policy groups are pushing back against a recent Tax Foundation report that said New York’s has the worst tax climate in the country because of its high taxes.
“Despite moderate corporate taxes, New York scores at the bottom this year by having the worst individual income tax, the sixth-worst unemployment insurance taxes, and the sixth-worst property taxes. The states in the bottom 10 suffer from the same afflictions: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates,” the Tax Foundation report said.
But leaders at the Partnership for New York City, The Business Council of New York State and the Fiscal Policy Institute dispute the report, saying it does not reflect the state’s recent changes in business and tax policy.
“It is not a surprise to anyone that New York’s tax climate hinders business growth, but no one has done more to change that than Governor Andrew Cuomo,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the partnership.
“The Business Council is disappointed with New York’s poor rating in the Tax Foundation’s newly released 2013 State Business Tax Index,” said Heather Briccetti, president of state Business Council, in a statement. “This report does not reflect the progress New York has made in its budget and tax policy over the past two years. The property tax cap adopted last year, and this year’s pension reform, will produce benefits over time. However, this rating shows that we have significant work to do to reverse years of bad tax and spending decisions.
The Fiscal Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank in Albany, said the report’s findings were flawed. The group, citing federal labor statistics, said that New York ranked 12th nationally on three economic performance measures: employment, personal income and GDP growth.
To read the full blog post, click here.
