1. NEW YORK STATE ECONOMIC SURVIVAL GUIDE
ISSUE Cap the Taxpayer Burden
WE’VE ENDURED THE NATION’S
SECOND HIGHEST TAX BURDEN
LONG ENOUGH.
We must get our State’s fiscal house in order by immediately
imposing a cap on state spending … committing to no increase
in personal or corporate income taxes or sales taxes, and imposing
a local property tax cap. ~ Andrew Cuomo
No change would do more for our state’s survival Like any healthy diet after a binge of overeating, the
than enacting this pledge, a key element of the action caps will cause discomfort. But they will force honest
plan published by Governor-elect Cuomo during discussions about what services people really need,
the campaign. and which ones we simply can’t afford. All taxpayers
should do everything they can to help Governor-elect
A HEAVY TAX LOAD These words promise essential relief to New York Cuomo make good on his pledge, and require state
taxpayers, who shoulder the nation’s second heaviest legislators to support him.
tax burden. At $6,419 per person, the state and local
taxes paid by New Yorkers are more than 40 percent
New York higher than taxes on Pennsylvania residents, more
$6,419
than 75 percent higher than taxes in North Carolina steps to
SURVIVAL
and more than 85 percent higher than Florida taxes.4
11.7 percent of per capita income Local property taxes are especially high. They fuel
school spending that has grown far faster than the Cap property tax increases at no
rate of inflation for years, giving New York the highest more than 2 percent or the rate of
per-pupil costs for K–12 education in the nation. inflation annually, whichever is lower
When property taxes are measured as a percentage of
U.S. Average home value, New York is home to nine of the nation’s Impose a state spending cap
(also 2 percent or the rate of inflation)
10 most heavily taxed counties, and 15 of the top 25.5
$4,283 A cap on spending and all state taxes, as the
No increase in other taxes
Declare a fiscal emergency and
9.7 percent of per capita income governor-elect has proposed, is critical. Without this
freeze pay for all state employees
comprehensive approach, the legislature will continue
(see page 6)
a cycle of spending, taxing and burden-shifting that
has ballooned state finances out of control.
Taxpayers in New York spend 50 percent
more than the national average on state and
local taxes. (2008 Tax Foundation data)