Contact: Timothy Lantz

518-455-5981

May 11, 2016

NEW YORK: A ROADMAP TO MASS EXODUS

Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R,C,I-Deerpark) today decried New Yorks Tax Freedom
Day as an embarrassing reflection on our states government and called for a drastic reduction in
the states tax burden on its citizens. Tax Freedom Day represents the day when New Yorkers
have finally paid off their federal and state tax burden.
Only in New York do we mandate that citizens work for free for over a third of the
year, Brabenec said. How are we one of the most populated states in the nation yet we tax our
citizens the highest? States like Florida and Texas are laughing at us and our citizens are joining
them in record numbers. Giving a third of your paycheck to the government is the same as
spending 30 percent of your workday in involuntary servitude to someone you may never meet.
Approximately one-third of New Yorks state budget is devoted to Medicaid spending,
and New York has spent more on the program than Texas and Florida combined in recent years.
New York Citys bottomless pit of spending is crippling our small businesses and
forcing families to leave the state in search of a friendlier fiscal environment. It is 18 percent
cheaper to locate a business right down the street in Pennsylvania than in my Assembly District,
which surely does not send a welcoming message to prospective entrepreneurs. Even Taxachussetts thinks we need to let individuals keep more of their money. This is an issue of liberty
as well as an issue of economics.
###