The Urgent Need to Raise Unemployment Benefits
Unemployment insurance stabilizes the state economy during economic downturns, but New York’s UI system has been insolvent for decades and UI benefits are inadequate to keep workers out of poverty.
Fact Sheet: New York State’s Economy
Population growth, widening inequality, and cost-of-living strains
The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Mass Deportation
New York’s economy depends on immigrants, including those without documentation. Deportation of these workers would dramatically decrease affordability and availability of food, homes, and care—all basic needs for New Yorkers.
New Census Data Show Population Growth as well as Continuing Affordability Challenges
Census data released last month show that New York’s population growth has returned to pre-Covid patterns, characterized by both overall population growth and affordability pressure driving many working and middle-income New Yorkers to leave the state.
Who is Leaving New York State? Part II: Social Characteristics
The Fiscal Policy Institute today released a new report in its state migration series, "Who Is Leaving New York State? Social and Labor Characteristics", which finds that affordability — and in particular housing and the cost of raising a family — are increasingly driving State population loss.
Debunking Common Misconceptions about the Size of the State Budget
Under the fiscal year 2025 executive budget, inflation-adjusted state funding would fall for a third consecutive year. While State spending rose in response to Covid, it will return to its pre-Covid trend by fiscal year 2025.
State Economic Update: Economy Recovers While Inequality Rises
Despite New York’s aggregate economic strength, the state faces real economic challenges. First, the Covid-19 pandemic induced a sustained decrease in total employment in the State relative to the rest of the country — in other words, while the rest of the United States has recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic employment, New York remains over 100,000 jobs below its pre-pandemic level as of the end of 2023. Second, poverty rates, which reached a 30-year low in 2020, have been climbing since the pandemic — a sign that New York faces real challenges in meeting the needs of its population. And third, New York’s income inequality remains amongst the highest in the country.
Latest Census Data, Combined with FPI Analysis, Reveal New York Losing Working and Middle Class
The latest Census data should serve as a red flag for policy makers: New York is losing more residents than any other state in the nation.
Who is Leaving New York State? Part I: Income Trends
A groundbreaking new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute, “Who Is Leaving New York State? Income Trends” reveals for the first time that the richest New Yorkers are far less likely to move out of New York than working and middle-class New Yorkers in normal, non-Covid years. While this pattern temporarily changed during Covid, when all households earning over $170,000 significantly increased their likelihood of moving out of state, migration trends reverted to normal in 2022.
Latest Census Data Confirms New York Losing Residents to Neighboring States with Lower Housing Costs
New Census data revealed that New York State lost a net total of 244,100 people in 2022. The latest Census data, which details state-to-state migration patterns, confirms the Fiscal Policy Institute's prior findings: New Yorkers are primarily moving to neighboring states with a lower cost of living, and in particular, lower housing costs. Meanwhile, less than half of New Yorkers are leaving for low tax states. This data confirms State fiscal policy should focus on turning New York into a place where people can afford to live and raise families — from investing in universal childcare and high-quality public education to affordable housing and reliable public transit. Conversely, budget cuts or underfunding will only hinder New York's economic recovery. Increasingly unaffordable housing and childcare, combined with shrinking state services, will continue to drive both individuals and businesses out of our state.
State Economic Update: Recession Unlikely, Tax Receipts Stable
Recent revisions to economic forecasts have significantly lowered expectations of a recession. This has positive implications for the State’s fiscal outlook, as improved economic performance should translate into higher tax receipts.
Workforce Report: Labor Shortage Mitigation in New York’s Home Care Sector
New York State has been reported to be one of the states most at risk of incurring a shortage of healthcare workers over the next decade. With a quickly growing population of adults over the age of 65 (“older adults”) and a movement towards “aging in place,” the demand for home care workers will rise dramatically over the next decade.
Fact vs Fiction: The Truth About New York’s Corporate Tax
March 8, 2023 Most businesses do not pay the corporate tax. Only corporations pay the corporate tax, and approximately 95% of businesses are not corporations. [1] Most businesses are partnerships, LLCs, S-corporations, or sole proprietorships, none of which pay the corporate tax. The biggest corporations pay most of the tax. More than 80% of corporations in New York pay less than $1,000 in tax. [2] Around 75% of all New York corporate tax revenue comes from the 500 most [...]
Housing Costs, Not Taxes, Drive Migration out of New York
The typical family that moves out of New York State saves 15 times more from lower housing costs than they do from lower taxes. Of the top twenty largest county-to-county moves out of New York State, annual mortgage costs are on average $18,300, or 34 percent, lower outside New York.
Personal Income Tax Revenue Exceeds Projections in Mid-Year Financial Plan
In its Mid-Year Financial Plan Update, the New York State Division of the Budget (DOB) reported that tax revenues continue to exceed previous projections. Personal Income Tax (PIT) receipts continue to outperform expectations — bringing in $48.95 billion — nearly $2 billion more than projected in the enacted budget financial plan and $500 million more than projected in the first quarterly update to the financial plan. Through the first half of the fiscal year, PIT receipts exceeded enacted and first quarter projections by 17 percent and 8 percent, respectively.