Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman today joined New York Senators Jack Martins, Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, and Steven Rhoads; Town Supervisors Joseph Saladino and Jennifer DeSena; and Long Island business leaders to speak out against a proposed corporate tax hike being considered by Governor Kathy Hochul and supported by New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani.
At the current corporate tax rate, a business earning $5 million in annual revenue pays $362,500 in taxes in New York, and that number jumps to $805,000 if it operates in New York City. Under the new proposal, the top corporate tax rate would rise from 7.25% to 11.5% for those same businesses.
That would cause taxes to skyrocket to $575,000 and $1,017,000 for out-of-city and in-city businesses, respectively – a massive increase that County Executive Blakeman and other officials say would force businesses out of New York and eliminate jobs.
“New York State is already the highest taxed state in the United States, and we are very concerned that this will drive more jobs out of New York State, that this will drive more businesses out of New York State, and that this will drive more residents out of New York State,” said County Executive Bruce Blakeman. “This is bad for Nassau County, this is bad for Long Island, this is bad for the Metropolitan region, and this is bad for New York State. We are going to fight very hard against it.”
Many major corporations are already opting to leave New York due to its high tax burden and are settling in more tax-friendly states like Texas. After losing 8,400 financial services jobs between January and August last year, New York’s financial services sector has now fallen behind Texas’ financial services sector in total jobs. JPMorgan Chase, once a major employer in New York, now employs more workers in Texas than in New York.
County Executive Blakeman stated that an exodus of corporations and associated job losses will cause many smaller businesses to go under. That will put more pressure on residents by reducing competition and driving prices higher.
“The business community here has been stressed and punched in the gut numerous times, and here’s another tax,” said Long Island Association President and CEO Matt Cohen. “This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. This is about what’s smart and what’s not smart, and this is not smart. It’s not good policy, it’s not good planning, and it’s really going to bite us in the end.”
“This proposed tax increase is potentially devastating to our region’s economy. Long Island, whose economy is closely aligned with New York City, is already confronting multiple challenges,” added Kyle Strober, Executive Director of the Association for a Better Long Island, in a statement. “Recent demographic trends reveal that such a tax increase extension will only serve to drive away additional businesses and high-income earners, who pay the majority of the state’s tax revenue. When this occurs, the tax burden will be shifted to Long Island’s hard-working middle class. This tax proposal will mock any effort to make New York more affordable for our middle class, a long-stated goal of Albany leadership.”
CREDIT: Nassau County Press Release