
New York state and local governments collected $12,500 per capita in fiscal year 2024. That's the highest rate in the entire country — 22% more than second-place California, which is not exactly known for its tax restraint.
California is looking up at New York. That's the tax bracket we're talking about.
The Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, dropped those numbers this week in a report called "Top Charts 4." The findings paint a picture that anybody who's ever paid rent in Manhattan already suspected: New York doesn't just tax more than other states. It taxes more than every other state and still manages to rank second-highest in per capita spending nationally. The money comes in at record pace. It goes out even faster.
The report's own conclusion is almost poetic in its understatement. "Taxes are one part of the equation. In truth, New York will not — and does not need to — be a low- or even average-taxing and spending state, but given that it is already top of the charts, New York should hold the line on or preferably reduce taxes." That's the nonpartisan watchdog version of "you have a problem."
Governor Kathy Hochul, who is currently seeking re-election, presides over a state with graduated individual income tax rates running from 4% to 10.90%. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently authorized a new tax on second homes valued over $5 million — because apparently the existing tax burden wasn't quite enough to finish driving wealth out of the five boroughs.
The spending comparisons are where it gets brutal. If New York spent at the same per capita rate as New Jersey — not exactly a libertarian paradise — the state would save $99 billion. If it spent like Texas, the savings would be $143 billion.
That's not a rounding error. That's $143 billion in difference between a state that functions and a state that tops every chart except the ones that measure results.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, the Long Island County executive, is running against Hochul in a race where the fiscal math is doing most of the campaigning for him. You don't need a thirty-second attack ad when a nonpartisan budget commission is publishing reports titled "Top Charts" about how your state bleeds money faster than any other.
The pattern is familiar at this point. Albany raises taxes because it needs more revenue to fund more spending. The spending creates more programs that need more funding. The funding requires more taxes. Residents and businesses do the math, and the U-Hauls head south.
New York's population declined by over 600,000 between 2020 and 2023 according to Census Bureau estimates. The $12,500 per capita figure doesn't shrink when taxpayers leave. It concentrates on whoever stays.
The Citizens Budget Commission recommended holding the line on taxes or reducing them. Governor Hochul's income tax rates top out at 10.90%.


Comments are closed.