Taxes, does anyone really know?

[jjb4900]

This seems to always be a hot topic, there seems to be a lot of blame from people who live in different parts of the state blaming others for the tax burden.........downstate blames upstate and upstate blames downstate, but does anyone really have the correct answer? I do not, because I really don't know..........just by shear population, I would think downstate must contribute more. But, who's needing more from who? 

[MACHINIST]

Would love to know the REAL ANSWER to this myself,not just opinions

[BizCT]

Did a quick search. Found 1 article from 2011 (Syracuse).

 

Syracuse, N.Y. -- In the marriage of Upstate and Downstate, Upstate is the taker. Downstate the giver.

A new report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government found that Downstate gives more to the state in taxes and other revenues than it receives. And Upstate takes more than it gives.

The study looked only at state funds and didn’t take into account federal money.

New York City contributed more than 45 percent of the state’s taxes and other revenues: $32.8 billion in 2010. But it only received 40 percent of the money the state passed out. Upstate counties (not including the Capital Region) contributed 24 percent of the state’s taxes and revenues but received 35 percent of the state money that was doled out in 2010, according to the study.

The study points out that state government can equalize wealth in a way that local governments can’t.

“The gains for Upstate in this balance of payments are strikingly big,” said Bob Ward, one of the researchers and the deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute. If Upstate took in as much as it paid out, it could lose as much as much as $9 billion.

Ward said the state budget is intended to redistribute wealth from rich communities to poorer ones, and that voters have supported this approach, in general. But the research he and the others did will allow policy makers to examine that structure more closely. Ward said he hoped the data crunched in the report will help inform state budget discussions in the future.

In addition to data about how much is given and received by each region, the report also has information about the demographics of each region. And it looks at regional payments by the type of tax: income, sales and corporate. It examines how much each region spends in several categories including local assistance, state agency operations and capital expenses. The report was commissioned by the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit civic group based in New York City that works for budget reform.

Ward said the study didn’t reach any conclusions about whether the way the state redistributes its wealth is right or wrong. That, he said, is up to the policy makers. And what they decide is anyone’s guess.

“I make no predictions about how this might influence policy,” Ward said. “We hope it will improve the debate.”

Contact Marnie Eisenstadt at [email protected] or 470-2246.

[MACHINIST]

OK time to put in toll booths to all roads going out of L.I.,you wantto get out it will cost you 50 bucks!!LOL just razing yall!

[jjb4900]

OK time to put in toll booths to all roads going out of L.I.,you wantto get out it will cost you 50 bucks!!LOL just razing yall!

I already think it takes $50 bucks to get off L.I. and out of NYC..........but that's another story, where the hell does all that toll money go? I did a search on just the George Washington bridge and it apparently takes in 1 million a day!!!

[First-light]

OK time to put in toll booths to all roads going out of L.I.,you wantto get out it will cost you 50 bucks!!LOL just razing yall!

They have had them for a long long time. Bridge and tunnel crossings. 10 bucks to cross GWB. There and back could be as high as 25 bucks when all said and done.

ChaChing!

[Doewhacker]

http://archives.buffalorising.com/story/does_downstate_subsidize_upsta

 

http://www.ppinys.org/reports/2004/upstate_taxes04.pdf

 

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/propertytaxes.pdf

 

Just a few sites with volumes of info about the subject.

[Five Seasons]

you can never compare sheer numbers. cities when everytime. you have to look at per capita and cost of living, average household income etc. It's very complicated.

[shawnhu]

OK time to put in toll booths to all roads going out of L.I.,you wantto get out it will cost you 50 bucks!!LOL just razing yall!

They have had them for a long long time. Bridge and tunnel crossings. 10 bucks to cross GWB. There and back could be as high as 25 bucks when all said and done.

ChaChing!

Although the GW is expensive, it's not yet as high as $25 per round trip, unless you are more than 2 axles per vehicle. The way it works is, you pay once going from NJ to NY, and its free from NY to NJ. This applies to all the bridges and tunnels from NY to NJ and back. Pay one way. It's currently something like $15 cash and $13 EZ pass I think.

[shawnhu]

I'm in the opinion that the city folks share more of the tax burden than the up state folks. On top of the state tax that NYC residents have to pay, we are also taxed an additional 5% for living in the city.

[Doewhacker]

you can never compare sheer numbers. cities when everytime. you have to look at per capita and cost of living, average household income etc. It's very complicated.

 

 

Add to that, the cost of paying for governemnt (ie Albany) and the downstate politicians and also the prison's that house the downstate criminals. Then add on our property taxes ect. and upstate looses. And if you want to realy get nit picky subtract out all of the water and power we send them for cheap.

[jjb4900]

Add to that, the cost of paying for governemnt (ie Albany) and the downstate politicians and also the prison's that house the downstate criminals. Then add on our property taxes ect. and upstate looses. And if you want to realy get nit picky subtract out all of the water and power we send them for cheap.

can you send some of that cheap power to Long Island?

[Five Seasons]

I'm in the opinion that the city folks share more of the tax burden than the up state folks. On top of the state tax that NYC residents have to pay, we are also taxed an additional 5% for living in the city.

 

right but you don't drive 30 miles to work, your mass transit system and your cultural opportunities and everything else that comes with the city are all what you're paying for. In the end, we all choose to live where we do, but simply look at similar cities like Rochester, Buffalo and Syraucuse in other states and you'll see a fraction of the tax and in some cases growing population instead of shrinking.

[growalot]

Isn't it true that for every piece of state run land in each county that,the county and township looses out in property taxes on those large campuses and prisons? I'm asking I don't know

 

Belo 30 miles is a mild estimate...I have known ppl that for many...many years drove from Corning to Rochester every day...from Elmira...Bath to Rochester...I'm sure that's really not all that uncommon around the state.

[shawnhu]

Talk a lot of talk, but so far Biz is the only one that has stated some facts.

[BizCT]

Doesn't have to do with taxes, but I would rather drive 30 miles each way than ride a train the same distance anyday, but parking in NYC is ridiculous. 

 

After living in NYC for a few years, I moved back to my parents house (Putnam County) to save $ to buy a place instead of continuing to rent.  I rode the train 50+ miles each way to/from NYC, it was about 3 hours of commuting time each day. It drove me nuts for 1 1/2 years but allowed me to save enough to move closer.....The commute from Putnam County was like $5K right off my salary, $360/month for the train, $50/month for parking at the train station, plus I had a 20 minute drive's worth of gas each way to/from the train station.

[Nomad]

Wow thats crazy! I drive 24 miles round trip 13 or 14 days a month .park for free no tolls.

And yes I believe NYC puts in more than takes out.