Unshackle Upstate Tells Lawmakers ‘No New Taxes’ as Budget Process Continues

February 15th, 2018

Last week, Unshackle Upstate submitted our budget testimony to the joint legislative fiscal committees on the critical issue of taxes. We highlighted the many economic challenges confronting Upstate communities, and kept our message clear and succinct: New York State’s high tax burden continues to plague Upstate families and businesses, and lawmakers must reject any proposals to impose new taxes or increase existing ones. (Read our full testimony here.)

Some of the sobering economic indicators pointed out by Unshackle Upstate executive director Greg Biryla:

• Since 2011, six of the state’s ten federally designated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) have economically contracted: All of them Upstate, according to federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. During that same time frame, the New York City-Newark-Jersey City MSAs real GDP grew by 7.6 percent.
• Since the 2010 census, New York State has lost more than 1 million residents to other states. Our “net domestic migration” exceeds that of any other state.
• Upstate New York’s total aggregate population has actually decreased by 60,000 people since the 2010 census and decreased by more than 23,000 residents in 2015.
• Of every 1,000 private-sector jobs that New York State added during the past 10 years, 981 were Downstate. Only 19 were generated Upstate, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).