Mind the stampede on your way out — New York has lost 1.6 million residents to other states in the past decade, according to a new report from the Empire Center for State Policy.
That’s the rough equivalent of having the entire city of Philadelphia (population 1.5 million) simply disappear from the map.
In a way, this isn’t news: For two decades, New York has led the nation in domestic outmigration — the percentage of residents leaving for other climes.
But the numbers aren’t looking any better these days. A May survey found that 36% of New Yorkers under 30 plan to flee the state because of high taxes, the crippling cost of living and a basic lack of jobs.
Things have been bad enough to trigger a reverse of the Great Migration — “black flight” back to the South, where ex-New Yorkers make up a hefty piece of the population boom.
The effect is visible: New York’s congressional delegation will soon be pared down to a threadbare 27 members — the smallest pack in just under 200 years.
In absolute numbers, the city hasn’t been shrinking; it’s an immigration magnet. But many new arrivals soon look for greener pastures.
With good reason: New York has the highest local levies and second-highest state taxes in the US. And property taxes are a sick joke: The 15 US counties with the highest property-tax burdens, as a percentage of home value, are all in New York.
Burdens like that send a clear message: Go west young man . . . or south . . . or anywhere but here.
So when New Yorkers flee for the hills, who can blame them?
“The biggest problem for the state is the enormous, recurring structural budget gap starting next year and into the future,” said E.J. McMahon of the conservative-leaning Empire Center. “Cuomo clearly hopes that starting in 2021, (Democratic presidential candidate Joseph) Biden and a Democratic Congress will provide states and local government a couple of year’s worth of added stimulus. Read More
Ed McKinley
ALBANY — When the New York Constitution was reorganized nearly 100 years ago to give the governor more power over the budget process, noted there was a risk of making “the governor a czar."
M Read More
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Johan Sheridan
ALBANY, N.Y. () — The Empire Center filed a against the state Department of Health on Friday.
“This case isn’t about assigning blame or embarrassing political leaders,” said Bill Hammond, the Empire Center’s Read More
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“The importance of discussing this and getting the true facts out is to understand what did and didn’t happen so we can learn from it in case this happens again,” Hammond said. Read More
No doubt, the Health Department and the governor would like this report to be the final word on the subject.
But if it’s all the same with them, we’d still like a truly independent review. Read More