The Peru Gazette

The drumbeat of people leaving New York state goes on, a new finding shows, with the equivalent of the populations of Columbia and Washington counties heading for warmer, less costly and lower-taxed Sunbelt states in 2014. Out-migration is nothing new, but two demographers recently updated the statistical portrait of the trend, and it’s eye-opening. The Empire State lost 126,000 tax filers in 2014 to other states, the largest number among all 50 states, according to Wendell Cox and Joel Kotkin, who published their findings in newgeography.com, a website devoted to demographic, economic and political trends. Rather than simple inflation or supply-and-demand, Cox is critical of what he says are overly restrictive zoning laws in many suburban communities, which discourage density and drive up the entry cost for a home. Business groups say an extension of the surcharge would further drive out wealthy taxpayers, while groups like the Fiscal Policy Institute argue that income taxes aren’t necessarily the reason that millionaires decided to stay or leave the state. The fact is that under this administration, New York has a record number of private sector jobs, an unemployment number below the national average, and passed reforms that led to the lowest middle class taxes in 70 years, the lowest corporate tax rates since 1968 and the lowest manufacturing tax rate since 1917 and a property tax cap.

Source: Study finds New York losing the most tax payers – Times Union