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Posted: Thursday, 01 June 2006 6:48PM
NY's Tax Burden Tops Nation
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ALBANY (AP) -- New York state tops the country in taxes collected by the state and local governments, siphoning off $5,260 per person a year, a business group said Thursday.
New York's combined local and state tax burden was 53 percent above the national average and $339 more than the second-most taxed state, Connecticut, said Robert Ward of The Public Policy Institute of The Business Council of New York State. The study was based on 2004 U.S. Census data. In 2002, the combined tax burden was $4,684 per state resident.
Total state and local taxes collected in New York topped $100 billion for the first time in 2004. If state and local taxes were on par with the rest of the country, New Yorkers would have paid $34 billion less, Ward said. At $2,328 per person, Alabama had the lowest combined state and local tax burden.
``To have this kind of increase, it's disgraceful,'' said Sandy Parker, chief executive of the Rochester Business Alliance. ``It certainly indicates we are spending way beyond our means. Until we start to control spending, we're going to continue to see an exodus of jobs and young people.''
The only state that collected more in taxes was California, which took in $133.9 billion in 2004. The per-person tax burden in California was $1,524 less than in New York. California's population is about 36.1 million compared to New York's 19.2 million.
``This is one race you don't want to win,'' said E.J. McMahon, director of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy. ``Unfortunately everything that has happened in Albany this year will make it worse.''
This year's state budget rose 7.8 percent, more than twice the rate of inflation, to $112.5 billion, according to Gov. George Pataki's budget office. The office predicts state budget shortfalls of $3.7 billion next year and $4.3 billion in 2008-2009.
The Public Policy Institute analysis comes after an April report by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi found that local property taxes across the state rose 42 percent from 2000 to 2005, more than three times the rate of inflation.
``This is why Senate Republicans have made it a priority to return money to the overburdened, hard working taxpayers of New York, fighting for property tax rebates and reductions in state taxes,'' said Mark Hansen, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Mark LaVigne, a spokesman for the New York State Association of Counties, said about 85 cents of every local tax dollar goes to fund state mandated programs such as Medicaid, early childhood services, jail construction and social services.
``This report is further evidence of the need to restructure and reevaluate the mandates put upon our counties,'' he said.
Charles Carrier, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said the Democrat-led Assembly has worked to cut property taxes, eliminate the sales taxes on clothing costing under $110, end the marriage penalty tax and ``provide tax relief for families that really need it.''
Pataki's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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