As Gov. Paterson and legislative lead ers meet today to tackle a multibil lion-dollar budget shortfall, they should note a new report’s warning: New Yorkers are fleeing in droves — and it’s wreaking havoc with the public fisc.
The report, by the Empire Center for Public Policy, shows that some 1.5 million people left the state between 2000 and 2008 — including 1.1 million from New York City alone.
And they took their tax dollars with them: In 2006, for example, the state lost some $4.3 billion from newly turned ex-New Yorkers.
Actually, folks have been fleeing for years: In 1950, New Yorkers represented nearly a tenth of the nation; now they make up less than a fifteenth…