Cuomo Looking At Tax Code Changes, Stops Short Of Calling It An Increase

As long as state income taxes can be fully deducted on the federal tax return, the  NYS income tax increase is minimized. The 2% increase for 2009-2011 was mostly mitigated by the full deduction of state taxes by eliminating the phase-out of itemized deductions. The net increase to the very wealthy was about 1% after deduction of federal taxes.

You talking individuals or corporations, slick?

Not certain, but it appears you edited your original post.  In any event, those who are “7 or 8 figure earners” are mostly entertainers, athletes, maybe 1,000 doctors and lawyers, and a few CEO’s whose income is from personal services.

The other “7 or 8 figure earners” are mostly hedge fund managers who derive their income from carried interests (taxed at 15%) who mostly long ago abandoned New York for Connecticut; legacy wealth owners who derive most of their income from dividends and capital gains (also taxed at 15%) and a few others who, with proper tax planning, can move their top marginal tax rate below the 35%.  (As Warren Buffet does, by paying himself an absurdly low salary of only $100,000 and earning the rest of his income by carried interest and capital gains.)  So, odds are, those “7 and 8 figure earners” are STILL going to be in the AMT.  So they’ll have the full effect of the NYS tax increase — giving them yet another reason to move out of New York.

Ultimately, the people who might feel the reduction you speak of are a few $1,000,000+ entertainers, athletes, and CEO’s who earn their income from personal services. But, surprise, the athletes and entertainers will do everything they can to not spend 180+ days in New York state (so that they are not “residents” for tax purposes and pay only for work they do “in state”).  The CEO’s might get the benefit of the NYS tax deduction, but most of them long ago moved their corporate headquarters up to Connecticut (as they have done for decades now), continuing the job hemorrhage in support and headquarters staff.

Yeah, no question: putting a surtax on “millionaires and billionaires” will possibly cause them to have a small tax benefit (possibly) at the federal level.  But don’t forget the real reason for it: its to galvanizes the Democrat base with the usual empty “class envy” tactics of an otherwise intellectually bankrupt and administratively inept political party. .  

But it doesn’t do much for actual revenue and it kills off even more New York jobs.  And for those of us who are upper income earners, but hardly “7 or 8 figure earners”, it will simply be yet another New York State tax increase.

Thanks for the humor. It helps to disarm what has been a rather testy interaction from Day 1. so there you go: millions of dollars in potential revenue falls by the wayside because of corporate tax loopholes, corporate welfare, and they still churn existing jobs without creating any new ones. I also don’t buy your canard about a mass exodus over a modest tax hike relative to total income. The Connecticut thing occurred in the 1970s and growth has been based upon existing beachheads established 35-40 years ago. As a State, they are also much more intelligent at planning, public-private partnerships, managing growth and controlling sprawl, etc. than New York. Unfortunately, your hyper-partisanship requires you to identify and label all ideas and proposals in advance before you determine whether it fits your ideological straitjacket or must be discarded. I enjoy the freedom to examine ideas on their own merits without the divisive labels that you must classify the universe in.

Among my dearest friends from my college days was the son of a nationally-known Liberal Democrat.  We would argue politics for hours.  I was also introduced to my wife by a mutual friend who happened to be homosexual.  You assume a great deal about me because of my politics.

What you perceive as “hate” is strict conservatism and an abiding respect for law, tradition, and standards.   I don’t believe in the kind of moral relativism that accepts any kind of behavior — including “private, constenting adult” behavior –because I think such behavior damages society as a whole (whore houses, opium dens, etc.)  I think adults, as adults, have a larger responsibility to society as a whole to restrain their passions and desires just as they have a responsibility not to destroy themselves with drugs, alcohol, food, prostitution, gambling, etc.  We have abandoned that notion in this country over the last 40 years or so, to our deteriment.

I believe — sincerely — that New Yorkers had a right to vote same-sex marriage as a plebiscite and that each state should be able to decide the matter for themselves.   It should not be forced upon them.   I remain of the view that homosexuality is a mental disorder,  that it is no longer treated as a mental disorder because of political pressure, and that we do a huge disservice to the homosexual community by not treating it as such and treating it as though it is some political cause.  (Even in countries where homosexuality is widely accepted, homosexuals have a suicide rate that is far greater than heterosexuals.).  

By the same token, I believe we  should no more condemn — or “hate” — homosexuals  than we would hate someone who is bipolar.   (The “in your face” political tactics of some homosexual activists, though, are more than rude, inappropriate and offensive.  They do not serve any political purpose whatsoever but act to galvanize those who actually do hate homosexuals..)

On taxes, New York State has one of the highest personal income tax rates in the nation, save only for California.  When New York City’s rate is added, it is the highest.

Since the inception of the tax, NYS and NYC have had the benefit of Wall Street incomes to tax.   But with computer trading, that work is highly transferable.– not only to other states (like Nevada, which has no state income tax) or even offshore, to tax haven countries.  And the trades can be executed from a laptop on a beach in the Azores or Madeira.

You can and will ultimately strangle the Golden Goose.  You need to reduce the size, and improve the efficiency of, government in New York or you will not be competitive.   In the words of Walter Wriston, “Capital goes where it is welcomed and stays where it is well-treated.”

Later…

How high does NYS need to raise your taxes to get you to stop THREATENING to leave and just DO IT?

Don’t make us guess. Give us a target figure, so we know what our goal is.

You are a legend in your own mind.

I’d love to find out. Pack your bags and hit the road. The sooner, the better.