You’ll see some of those places have higher state taxes than NY, or higher taxes in some categories.  Add it up and you get a different situation.  For example, out of Washington and Oregon, one has a high state income tax and no sales tax, one has a high state sales tax and no income tax.  Neither had anything like the local taxes in NYC.  California has higher state taxes than NY, but lower local taxes.  Etc.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/taxes_data_from_the_census_of_governments.html

If you really want to undestand this in detail, read this post and download and print the attached spreadsheets. They show the TOTAL state and local tax burden as a percent of the income of state (and parts of NY State) residents, by tax.  The source of data is the U.S. Census Bureau.  One table shows all the states and all counties of NY state for FY 2007.  The other shows selected areas as far back as I could get the data.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/taxes_data_from_the_census_of_governments.htmlBasically, NY is number one except in years when oil prices are high.  Those years, the total tax take as a percent of income may be higher in Alaska and Wyoming, because of all the taxes paid for the oil and gas industry — taxes for other businesses and residents are low there — Alaska sends people checks.

This data lags, and the FY 2009 data came out recently.  I have just finished compiling it, but have not had time to write about it.  But what I can tell you is NYC’s state and local tax burden was 53.2% above the national average that year, up from 34.4% above average in FY 2002, a year chosen for comparison because it was also a recession year.

By the way, a group such as the Manhattan Institute would tabulate the per capita tax burden rather than the tax burden as a percentage of income.  That would make NY’s burden seem much higher relative to other places.  The post explains why I chose the percent of personal income measure.

http://www.southbronxschool.com/2012/01/governor-cuomo-announces-new-education.html

Do you have a source for your claim that NY has the highest state tax burden in the country?

My understanding is that the top state income tax brackets are higher in Hawaii, Rhode Island, California, Vermont, Oregon and Iowa and New York has the same 8.97% top income tax bracket as New Jersey.
 

The sky actually fell, for those who give a damn about that.  For those who don’t, there is no problem, never was, and never will be. 

There is only one “reform” worth undertaking, and it doesn’t require a commission or a negotiation.  Send everyone in the state a letter detailed what is being spent, per child, including pensions and OPERB, in that district, that part of the state as a whole, and the U.S. — based on the latest Census data.  Perhaps adjusting for the higher cost of living Downstate as I do, perhaps not. And showing how much of that money is spent on teachers, including retired teachers, per child, and per 20 children.

The letter should also note that the pensions have been negotiated between the teacher’s union and the state legislature, and the contracts have been negotiated between the individual districts and the union, and cannot be changed except in ways that the require less of the teachers or give them more in retirement.

And that’s it.  Nothing else should be said, ever.  The ongoing battles are just adding to the deception about the reality.

And speaking of California, their tax burden as a share of personal income is way lower than ours. Their teacher pensions are less rich.  Teachers there contribute far more to their pensions, do not get Social Security, and pay taxes on those pensions.  They deserve more.