Will The Last Person To Leave NY State PLEASE Turn Off The Lights!

Will the last person leaving New York State please turn off the lights? While Progressives across the country are tied up in their underwear looking for ways to punish success with over-taxation, New York is losing taxpayers at an alarming rate.

According to the NY Post:

 ...a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade, a new report found.

That's as if the entire populations of Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, White Plains and West Babylon combined had packed up and left.

If you have ever been to Yonkers, White Plains or West Babylon you might think the population loss is a good thing but when one realizes that most  state  coffers in this country are close to insolvency and New York is closer to the edge than most, the population loss and the resulting loss of tax revenue is horrible news for the Empire State.

For the second consecutive decade, New York led the nation in the percentage of residents leaving for other states, according to the report by the Empire Center for State Policy.

The newly constructed big ball-yard in the Bronx and New Citi Field in "Flushing by the Bay," makes one wonder why anyone would ever want to leave NY State's borders. But I am told life is more than baseball.

Most analysts blamed New York's high taxes and skyrocketing cost of living for the mass exodus.

The Tax Foundation ranked New York highest in the nation in the combined state and local tax burden in 2008. And as small-business lobbyist Mike Durant noted, New York has also "consistently ranked worst or in the top three worst in business climate.

"You can't suck every penny out of people and expect them to remain in New York," added Durant, New York state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Since 1960, New York has lost 7.3 million residents to other states -- a net loss of 2.5 million people after adding in an influx of 4.8 million new immigrants, the study found.

The only thing saving the state from even greater population losses is the influx of immigrants, but the new Americans do not help tax roles enough because the people leaving generally have higher incomes (and pay higher taxes) than the people entering the state.

Along with the loss in tax revenue is the loss of political power. The state's House delegation will drops to 27 next year, in 1960 that number was 43 (what's worse is they refuse to gerrymander my Congressman Political hack Steve Israel out of a seat).

People were surprised when newly elected governor Andrew Cuomo started acting more like a conservative. But when you consider the above it is not really surprising.

"Gov. Cuomo believes a hostile business climate and high taxes have and would continue to drive people and businesses from our state," said his spokesman, Josh Vlasto, touting the governor's success in capping property taxes, holding the line on state taxes and focusing on job creation during his first year in office.

 The flight from NY should be a warning for progressives in each state with a high tax rate as well as those who work in the federal government.  You may think that paying taxes is patriotic, but there is a limit to patriotism when it means paying to much in taxes.

The world is a lot smaller than it used to be, just as people are fleeing high-tax states, people with higher income can do what many corporations are already doing....leaving the country.  Its a long way off, but nation-wide we could eventually face the same dilemma as The People's Republic of NY, a wealthy-tax base being replace by lower income immigrants.

Tax revenues per person usually fall with increased tax rates If you think the deficit situation is bad now, I shudder to think what will happen to the National Debt if  lower revenue/person is combined with fewer wealthy tax-payers.