We’re No. 1 — but not in a good way, according to a report that shows New York has lost more tax-paying residents than any other state in the nation.
IRS data from 2013 shows 114,929 taxpayers moved out of the state, far more than the 68,943 who left Illinois, which ranked second for most residents lost.
The five states with the largest migrations out have Democratic governors, while the five with the most people moving in have Republicans.
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, said the numbers prove New York has a less-than-welcoming business climate.
“The number of people who leave a state is a crucial barometer of whether a state is being successful as a desirable place to live and work and do business,” he told The Post.
State Republicans pounced on the results.
“This mass exodus is direct result of the state’s high taxes and burdensome regulatory climate,” the New York Republican Party said in a statement.
“Governor Cuomo has failed to do anything to stop it and has made it worse with his crony capitalism and refusal to allow natural-gas exploration that would transform the state’s economy. He must be too busy picking fights with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to focus on the real problems facing our deteriorating state.”
Cuomo’s office said the report, by Americans for Tax Reform, wasn’t fair because it didn’t include migration into the state.
New York gained 272,066 people, said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi.
“Looking at one-half of the equation is not how you do math, even if you’re a right-wing think tank trying to take a partisan cheap shot,” he said.
McMahon noted most of the state’s new residents were from other countries.
The largest migration from one state to another was from New York to Florida, with 17,355 people packing for the Sunshine State.
The other losers, behind New York and Illinois, were California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The top gainers were Texas, Florida, South and North Carolina and Arizona.
Overall, one-third of states with Democratic governors gained taxpayers, compared with three-fifths of states with Republican governors, the group said.
Dem-run states lost 226,763 taxpayers, while GOP-run states gained almost 220,000.
© 2015 New York Post
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