The Empire State is losing taxpaying residents more than any other state in the country, says the latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) migration data from 2013.
In 2013, approximately 115,000 New Yorkers fled the state, and took their $5.65 billion in adjusted gross income, or AGI, with them. When dating back to 1985, the state has lost more than 1.6 million taxpayers as well as $80.8 billion in annual AGI.
Ostensibly, New York has lost a bulk of its population as 20,465 ($1.3 billion) have gone to Florida. This is followed by New Jersey with 16,223 ($1.1 billion), Texas with 10,784 ($354 million) and North Carolina with 9,070 ($294 million).
“This new data shows that New York will remain America’s ‘Biggest Loser,’” said Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in a statement. “The phenomenal failure of New York to retain taxpayers and businesses is directly related to its uncompetitive tax and business climates. By some measures, New Yorkers face the greatest tax burden of any state in the nation.”
The state government has already conceded that New York is the “highest tax state in the nation” and it is rather costly. Governor Andrew Cuomo has instituted an array of policies that have contributed to this mass exodus. Some of those policies include eight tax brackets with a top rate of 8.82 percent, a ban on hydraulic fracturing and a deal that would subsidize General Electric (GE).
This is very troubling news for a state that faces a debt of more than $370 billion, which is No. 2 in the country behind California. How else are they going pay down the debt, balance the books and cover the interest on that debt?
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