Governor Spitzer continues his upstate public relations campaign, “Operation Strategic Investment.”

Frankly, Spitzer’s plans are not very strategic nor much of an investment. Over ninety percent of the $850 million in disbursements are redecorated bribes allocated during Pataki’s last term of office.

Payoffs to existing employers and contractors, in the form of state grants, will not revitalize upstate New York’s ailing economy. People have been fleeing the area because they can’t afford the annual property tax bill – 80% of which is dedicated to financing unfunded state mandates. Before entrepreneurs relocate to the area and invest capital, the local tax systems must be fixed.

Here’s a breakdown of the tax burden of upstate townships and cities versus New York’s most affluent and populated municipal sub-division, the town of North Hempstead.

People whose homes are worth less than 20 percent of the homes in North Hempstead are paying taxes that are equal to or higher than those levied on North Hempstead taxpayers.

With median household incomes at $50 thousand, upstate New Yorker’s can’t afford this tax burden.  That’s why one million of them have escaped to other parts of the nation where salaries are comparable but taxes are significantly lower.

Restraining state spending and abolishing unfunded state mandates will save upstate New York, not Spitzer’s promotion of failed Pataki programs.

This entry was posted on October 28, 2007 at 4:07 pm and is filed under NY State Finances-SCC. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.