So when I moved to Albany from Massachusetts, all my Boston friends sent me off with a farewell that went something like, “so you’re finally saying goodbye to the land of high taxes and government spending huh?” Oh how funny that is now that I’ve gotten my first taste of a New York budget. Consider the New York state budget that just passed; and let’s leave out the wealth taxes, the ‘excluded’ workers benefits, the early retirement incentives for NY city only!... ignore all that. Let me give you two stats about this New York budget that should blow your mind:
Stat 1 – New York’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget is more than Texas AND Florida’s FY2022 budget.
NY has a budget of over $212 billion, while Texas comes in at $112.5 billion and FLA’s is $96.5 billion.
What makes this INSANE is this: New York’s population is just under 20 million. Texas’ population is almost 30 million, and Florida’s is almost 21.5 million. In other words, those two states have over 50 million people while New York has less than 20 million people, and yet New York’s budget is bigger than both of theirs, COMBINED.
Stat 2 – The FY2022 budget is up significantly from FY2021 – 9% higher. But from FY2019, the state’s budget is up MORE THAN 22%! (Thank you Bill Hammond from Empire Center for the stats). Think about how INSANE that is. A massive pandemic hit the country, and it shut much of New York down for almost an entire year. And yet in that time period, the state’s spending has gone up TWENTY-TWO percent.
Again I remind you, my Massachusetts friends once told me I was moving AWAY from ‘tax and spend’ state government. If they only knew…