Since Kathy Hochul assumed the office of New York governor in 2021, she has been on a spending spree funding every leftist special interest group in the state.
For the state fiscal year that begins on April 1, she has proposed a record-breaking operating budget that tops $250 billion — up $100 billion since 2015. Spending, which will increase 7.9% over last year's budget, exceeds the rate of inflation. The governor's overall 3-year fiscal plan projects out-year budget deficits totaling a stunning $23.2 billion.
To grasp the magnitude of New York's budget, here's a comparison to Florida's fiscal plan: With 22.6 million people, Florida's state budget for 2025 totals $116.5 billion versus New York, with 19.8 million people, spending $252 billion.
Those numbers help explain why New York's top income tax bracket hits 10%, while Florida has no state income tax. It also accounts for tens of thousands of New Yorkers fleeing to the Sunshine State annually.
Thanks to Gov. Hochul's tax-and-spend policies, the annual “Rich State, Poor State” report, prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council, places New York at rock bottom in its economic outlook rank.
Here's how New York stacks up versus the other states”: (No. 1 is best, No. 50 is worst).
- Effective Top Corporate Income Tax Rate (18.28 %): 50th place
- Effective Top Marginal Personal Income Tax Rate (14.78%): 50th place
- Property Tax Burden: 46th place
- Estate Tax Levy: 50th place
- Public Employees per 10,000 of population: 44th place
- State Minimum Wage: 44th place
- Average Workers Compensation Cost: 47th place
- Debt Service as share of tax revenue: 49th place
New York's awful rating, the ALEC report concludes, “is a consequence of its persistently high personal, corporate, property, and inheritance taxes imposing a considerable burden on its taxpayers. The [State] Attorney General's recent attacks on business suggests more will be fleeing the jurisdiction.”
And how does Hochul plan to squander $252 billion? Here are a few examples:
Medicaid spending, which includes federal, state, and local municipal contributions, is projected to hit a whopping $124 billion. It will be up 59% since Hochul's first budget four years ago. (Medicaid spending increased only 57% during Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 11 budget cycles.)
Reviewing those projected numbers, the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank, concluded:
In a period of economic growth, low employment, and declining poverty, New York's Medicaid spending is rising at some of the highest rates in the history of the program, a trend that Hochul has correctly identified as "unsustainable." A first step toward bringing the program under reasonable control is for her administration to provide a complete and transparent accounting of how just unsustainable it is.
State aid to schools will hit $36 billion. Hochul has increased aid annually despite declining student enrollments. While the national average expended annually per student is $16,000, New York will spend more than $36,000 this year — the highest per capita in the nation.
As for the return on that investment? Well, put it this way, there is a growing proficiency crisis.
The Education Trust of New York has revealed that only 42% of eighth-grade students are proficient in math; and 45% proficient in reading. Twenty-six percent of Blacks and Hispanics are proficient in math and 29% in reading.
But Hochul continues to throw good money after bad because her first concern is the teachers union membership, not the students.
As for overburdened taxpayers who are suffering from Biden inflation, Hochul's budget throws them a bone. Families making under $150,000 will receive a $500 inflation “refund check” from the state.
Giving a handful of taxpayers back a pittance of their money? How magnanimous!
And then there are billions in pork spending, including $80 million to fix the front steps of the capital; $200 million for pool renovations; $400 million for the renovations of the state museum; and the extension of the filmmaker tax credit that will cost New Yorkers $700 million.
Hochul's fiscal antics were best described by Andrew Rein, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission:
Despite strong revenues and continued economic growth, Gov. Kathy Hochul's Executive Budget weakens the State's fiscal foundation and competitiveness: It balloons spending, fails to restrain unaffordable Medicaid and education spending growth, spreads many "affordability' programs too thin to provide meaningful relief. ... The budget continues New York's habit of using revenue surges and temporary taxes to build its fiscal house of cards higher, which could create a self-inflicted fiscal crunch and weaken the State's ability to meet New Yorkers' needs during a future recession or in the face of potential federal cuts.
George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." Read George J. Marlin's Reports — More Here.