New Yorkers Flee Bad Government
High taxes, lack of opportunity, and intrusive government regulations have created a mass exodus of people from New York State, according to a recent report by the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy. New York experienced a net loss of 1.5 million residents between 2000 and 2008. That amounts to around 8 percent of the state’s population at the beginning of the decade. And this is not a recent trend. The report also notes that 1.7 million people left the state during the 1990s.
The reasons for this mass migration are almost wholly economic in nature. There can be no coincidence that while New York ranks number one in the country in terms of net population drain, it also ranks at or near the top in terms of the tax and fee burden it imposes on its residents. From region to region, there are subtle differences in the motivating factors behind rounding up the kids, selling the house, and leaving the state. Downstate and New York City emigrants cite high taxes and housing costs. Upstate, the scarcity of jobs and high property taxes are the key drivers. And all over the state, heavy land use, environmental, and business regulations have driven away small businesspeople.
New York has been shedding its population, and consequently its Congressional seats and political power, for decades. But only in recent years has the stream become a flood. State and local governments have perpetuated this by raising taxes and fees to account for the loss in income and business tax revenue. The higher the taxes get, the more people leave. An aggressive downward spiral has developed.
What needs to happen is serious belt-tightening in Albany along with relaxation of taxes and regulations. That is how business can thrive in New York State. And that is how to keep people from leaving.