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Today the Census Bureau announced that New York will lose two Congressional seats as part of the decennial reapportionment process. An updated study by Americans for Tax Reform compared states gaining and losing seats, finding that gainers had significantly lower taxes, less government spending, and were more likely to have “Right to Work” laws in place. Because reapportionment is based on population migration, this is further proof that fiscally conservative public policy spurs economic growth, creates jobs, and attracts population growth.

New York’s top personal income tax rate is 8.97 percent, while the average among reapportionment gainers is only 2.8 percent. Half of the states gaining seats do not levy a personal income tax at all. Government spends $5,955 per New Yorker, 49 percent higher than the average among gainers. And New York is a forced unionization state, where an employee can be required to join and contribute financially to a union as a condition of employment. All but one of the states gaining Congressional representation, by contrast, are Right to Work states.

New York will now have 27 Congressional seats, marking a seventy years of decline from its high of 45 seats in 1930. Without a serious change in direction on fiscal and economic policy, the state shows no signs of reversing the outflow of jobs and population to more business-friendly states. ATR’s study on New York follows:

 

Average Top Personal Income Tax Rate

Per Capita State and Local Tax Burden

Per Capita Government

Spending

Right to Work States

Average

Reapportionment Gainers

2.8 percent

$3,519

$4,008

7 of 8

New York

8.97 percent

$6,419

$5,955

NO

Difference

220 percent

$2,370

$1,947