I lived in Mount Vernon one summer, and I was confused when people in the city (see, I just did it) said I "lived upstate."
We are actually second-class citizens, the legislature of NY is only for NYC (and the benefits of all the taxes we pay, union dues, etc, at least to hear my father tell it.)
(This is by where you live) $Paid $Recd Pop Capital Region 3.8% 7.0% 4.2% New York City 45.1% 40.0% 42.9% Downstate Suburbs 27.4% 17.7% 21.7% Rest of State 23.8% 35.2% 31.2%
Use two spaces before each line for pre-formatted text. Label your axes. Provide a reference for the source of your table.
I have no idea if this is sales tax, income tax, or capital gains tax.
If I had to guess (I used to be in politics), your dad spends a lot of time complaining about property taxes -- I can guarantee those don't leave your municipality.
There's NY, ranked right behind NJ as #49 for second least favorable state business tax climate. That's right. Worse than California for business owners. I have no idea of the legitimacy of this graph, it only took 10 seconds of Googling to find it.
Not saying anything about Upstate vs The City, but my dad has lived in NY for near to his whole life, he's actually from Long Island, and (what do you say next? we have Jewish friends?)
It's easy to say they're federal issues, but NY has reasonably high sales tax and income tax, and yes there is property tax. If you're from New York, you wouldn't argue that we're not highly taxed. I happen to be near enough to the poverty line, recent college graduate, high student loan debt, good payment record, so I only know what they want me to see insofar as taxes go. I fill out TurboTax and usually get most of it back.
I've actually received larger income tax returns than what I paid in total, once or twice, with no plausible explanation other than "Dad paid for it," so you'll have to understand, I am influenced / biased also based on that.
I live in NJ, I work in NY, so I got 49 and 50 going strong here. I can tell you, and you'll have to just trust me on this, business is better here than in Alabama or Arkansas which have much better 'business climates'.
You received higher tax returns than what you paid because of the earned income tax credit, a socialist wealth redistribution scheme to benefit low-income workers that would never pass if today's political conservatives had to vote on it. Your dad and I both helped pay for it.