The Rush To Leave New York

New York City has a really problem with geese, and not just the ones who regularly account for airline "bird strikes." These geese are the golden kind, and they are flying out of New York State, and especially, New York City, in droves. Why?  Simple. Out of control taxation.

According to a report (3/10) in the "New York Post", "a mere 41,282 taxpayers account for nearly half of (New York) city's income-tax collections."  Take a moment to ponder the gravity of that. This is a city with population of 8,274,527 (2007 estimate) and less than 42,000 are carrying half the load!  The Post report goes on to say that, "Officials provided figures showing that 1 percent of taxpayers, or 41,282 filers earning $500,000 or more, paid 47.8 percent of the $7.3 billion collected by the city in income taxes. The top half percent, or 19,387 filers with $1 million or more in taxable income, accounted for 40.6 percent."

On the one hand, you could use the liberal rationale that, "Hey, they can afford it-they make too much money anyway." However, people of that opinion tend to ignore that fact that these people (or someone in their ancestry) have worked really hard and taken extraordinary risks to get where they are. Maybe some of them are providing gainful employment for others. Nope. They don't think that way in NYS.

In the New York City (and this applies to the entire Empire State) if you have money, the state and local government is going to reach into your pocket and get as much of it as they can using whatever means they can. In The Big Apple, Council Speaker Christine Quinn has proposed boosting the city's income tax from 3.65 to 4.25 percent for those earning at least $297,000; to 4.45 percent for folks making $532,000 and to 4.65 percent for the $1.2 million league and above. The only voice of logic in the matter was Mark Page, the city's budget director, who testified at a City Council budget hearing. "You don't need to lose many of them (millionaire's) before ending up with less money than you had before you increased the tax."

Keep in mind that this is a city tax, these people also have to pay state and federal taxes, school and county taxes, plus sales and hospitality taxes. According the Post, "At the same time, there's a movement in Albany to raise the state income tax from 6.85 percent to 8.25 percent for people making a minimum of $250,000; 8.97 percent for those making $500,000 and above in taxable income and 10.3 percent for those at the $1-million-and-up level." So, a 1% increase may not sound like much, but with all those other taxes going up as well, it becomes obvious that the goal is not just to tax the wealthy, but to do away with personal wealth altogther.

With typical liberal "tax and spend now, worry about it later," thinking, the plan over looks the fact that these are people who can quiteeasily just pull up stakes and move anywhere they have a mind to. What's really surprising is that New York's unelected, tax-crazed Governor, David Paterson, finds the whole matter to be quite funny. His latest target is none other than talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. In his early days at 77WABC, Limbaugh lived in NYC, but moved to Florida in 1997 to get away from New York's ridiculously high taxes. FLA, however, has hurricane issues, so Limbaugh has kept a condo in the Big Apple as a refuge from the storms. Earlier in the week on his radio program, Limbaugh denounced the so-called "millionaire's tax" and announced his intentions to sell the condo and get out of town permanently. New York's Governor, never the diplomat, made it clear he was hardly sorry to see him go. “If I knew that would be the result,” he said after a speech Thursday morning in Midtown, “I would’ve thought about the taxes earlier.” Well, Mr. Governor, has it occurred to you or anyone else in the Empire State that if enough people in Mr Limbaugh's tax bracket skedaddle, the city and state will go bankrupt? Do you even realize how close that possibility presently is?

It doesn't stop there. The state is doing much more than raising taxes to drive people out. As Patrick Bedard mentioned in a recent article in "Car and Driver" magazine, aside from taxes, the only other tool that states have for rapidly raising lots of dough is to put pressure on city, state and local police agencies to give out more tickets. In New York, a speeding ticket, which once had a $35-$65 sting, can now cost a whopping $485 or more. The punitive part is the $85. The additional $400 is tacked on simply because the state needs the dough. Granted, there are no shortage of speeders on the state's highways, but the way the state has turned this into a cash cow is to pressure police agencies to up the "miles per hour over the limit" to get speeders into that $400+ sweet zone. I know from personal experience, having received one of these unexpected little surprises last year. I admit it. I was over the limit, and was fully prepared to pay a reasonable fine. However, when the "invoice" made it to may desk, it became apparent how the state is simply using this as another way to wring out the citizenry. It was too late to fight it, but I did complain. I sent letters to officials, including state Senator Dale Volker, but got zero response (no surprise). This is not just something that's made in NY, on a recent 12 state road trip, I observed speeders pulled over at a rate of about 1 every 60 miles.

I've lived in NYS most of my life, and generally like it here. But, over the years, as I've watched the state go from red to blue the state has become a much less friendly, much more expensive place to live. With the Governor's current plan to tax just about human activity or function, it's just a matter of time before more and more New Yorkers form a convoy and high-tail it out of here. Who's going to pay the bill then? ----