[](/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/11/14810025-mmmain.jpg)I almost fell off the treadmill this morning when I saw advertisements from the Empire State Development agency touting how great it is to do business in New York and their website.
The powers that be in Albany, NY’s state capital, are trying to spin their way out of explaining the recent 2015 State Business Tax Climate Indexfrom the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., based research organization that ranked New York as the 49th worst state in the country in which to do business.
The tax index ranked only the Garden State lower than the Empire State as the worst state to do business in America based upon tax considerations. Imagine the punishment that Jersey faces. Jerseyans have the very punishment of living there, the awful Jets, and New Jersey is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance and an estate tax. Quite the combo.
However, for entrepreneurs, New York ranked dead last in the report when it came to the individual income tax component of the state business tax climate index – which means that as an individual entrepreneur there is nowhere worse to work for yourself. Higher taxes hurt entrepreneurs, investments, hiring, morale and more.
I have said it before, but perhaps as part of my self-help process its worth repeating: As a resident of Manhattan, I pay over 50% taxes – 35% federal, 8.25 percent New York State taxes, and 4 percent local taxes. Add in Medicare, Social Security, payroll, workers compensation, commercial rent taxes, and who knows what other tax and it is more than 50 percent. In what world is that normal, fair or decent?
Wyoming ranks as the top state to do business in – and it’s illegal there for women to stand within five feet of a bar while drinking – so who knows what makes sense?
The Federal Trade Commission should enforce truth-in-advertising laws – and force Empire State Development to clarify that the “BIG” that is referred to in its ads about doing business in NY doesn’t refer to opportunity – it refers to taxes, major government obstacles, barriers and the fact that there are taxes on everything in New York.
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