The out-migration of New Yorkers that has been ongoing since the 1990s, according to the leaders of businesses-development and anti-tax groups, is taking its toll on the state’s economy and its communities.
They were responding to a recent report put out by the Empire Center for Public Policy, an advocacy group that focuses on anti-tax issues and the economy.
The state has seen more than 1.5 million people flee to other states between 2000 and 2008, making it the biggest loser in the nation as far as the domestic population is concerned, according to the report, which was compiled from U.S. Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service data. The only other state to lose more than a million residents during that period was California.
“There are nicer places to live climate-wise,” said Mike Elmendorf, the New York state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, “and there’s also more opportunity.”