WTEN: 158 companies flee NY along with $1T, experts react

August 24th, 2023

Click here for the full story by WTEN’s Amal Tlaige.

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — With an uptick of New Yorkers leaving the state, businesses are also leaving, according to a report by Bloomberg. Many of them are heading to Florida or Tennessee.

“We see these firms going to lower cost states, the same as we see New Yorkers going to lower cost states,” said Justin Wilcox, Executive Director of Upstate United.

158 companies managing almost a trillion dollars in assets have left New York, however experts say the city still remains a global industry leader. Justin Wilcox, Executive Director of Upstate United said he exodus is directly related to policies coming out of the legislature.

“It’s really death by a thousand cuts in New York State. What we see is fees, taxes, surcharges on just about everything and overtime that adds up right? And then you look at what your competition is doing in another state and you say ‘You know what I’m at a competitive disadvantage being here in New York; if I relocate you get to keep more of what you earn, more what you worked for,’” said Wilcox.

Rahul Jain, Deputy Comptroller for the city of New York said this is something to say on top of, but not a “sky-is-falling” scenarios. Jain said there’s actually more wealth now than there was two years ago, with more assets to manage. “But there’s also the question of how big the total pie is – in terms of the total pie, the states assets under management still remains very healthy and bigger than it was before,” said Jain.

Jain is referring to different assets people own such as stocks, bonds, real estate, private shares and more, “Seeing those assets increase in value over the past few years, and we have generally seen that, we’ve had ups and downs, but in total the pie is bigger than it was a few years ago.”

Wilcox said it will be interesting to see how lawmakers will try to lower costs heading into the next session, but the legislature needs to acknowledge that there is in fact, a cost of living problem in New York.