New York Legislators Pile on the Tax Burden

With its new package of whopping tax increases, New York State’s Democratic-controlled legislature has crossed over a metaphorical fiscal Rubicon. Over the last century, Albany has legislated its way to the nation’s highest tax burden largely during times when governors and legislators pleaded fiscal emergencies as their rationale for steadily higher taxes. Now, however, the legislature’s Democratic caucus, which back in November captured super-majority control over Albany, is raising taxes not because it claims it needs to but simply because it can. Given that the pandemic has increased the already-massive disincentives for doing business and living in New York, this latest round of increases, designed to funnel another $4.3 billion out of the state’s private sector and into government, will test the progressive notion that taxes don’t influence people’s decisions on where to live or do business. Read Full Article »