ALBANY – Barack Obama’s plan to raise taxes would pile a staggering $16 billion in additional taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, according to a new report.

The study, from the conservative-oriented Manhattan Institute, examined the impact in 2009-2010 of Obama’s proposals. The Democratic candidate wants to repeal President Bush’s reduction in the top two tax brackets, while also imposing higher capital-gains and dividend taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year.

The report, titled “High-Stakes Taxing: New York’s Prospects Under the Next President’s Tax Agenda,” noted that New York has just 6.4 percent of the nation’s tax filers. But the state’s share in paying for Obama’s tax hikes would come to nearly 11 percent – the highest extracted from any state except California.

The study said Obama’s plan to retain Bush’s tax cuts for people earning low to middle incomes, as well as providing them with new or expanded tax credits, should provide $13 billion in added benefits to New Yorkers over two years.

But the state would still stand to lose $1 billion in tax revenues, and the city would lose up to $285 million, the study found.

“Both Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg are forecasting sizeable budget gaps for fiscal years beginning in 2009,” notes the report.

“The result could be the reverse of 2003: a situation in which state and local income taxes are raised on top of higher federal taxes.

“This would create an even stronger incentive for taxpayers to minimize their taxable incomes, feeding the cycle of both fiscal and economic decline.”

Both the state and city face massive looming budget deficits because of the ongoing Wall Street meltdown, the related subprime mortgage crisis and the national economic slowdown.

E.J. McMahon, the report’s author, said research has shown that high-income taxpayers usually react to federal tax hikes by earning less and sheltering income, resulting in a sharp drop off in tax revenues.

Still other wealthy taxpayers may simply pack up and leave New York, the report says.

The report estimates that changes in taxpayer behavior caused by Obama’s tax increases would reduce state personal-income tax revenues by between $800 million and $1.1 billion over two years, while the city’s potential revenue loses would be between $144 million and $285 million.

The report noted that Republican presidential hopeful John McCain’s tax plan would retain Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy while providing an additional $675 million in tax reductions to low- and middle-income New York families.

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