Tax Foundation gives poor ranking to Chenango, upstate NY
NORWICH – As a percentage of home value, Chenango County comes in number 36 in a ranking of the highest-taxed counties in the nation.
A 2007-2009 ranking from The Tax Foundation, released last month, compared 1,823 counties (out of a possible 3,140) and found not only Chenango County in the top 50 with the largest property tax burden, but also listed 15 upstate New York counties as the highest taxed overall. Orleans County, with 2.99 percent of home value, was first. Neighboring Cortland County was sixth; Madison, 25th; and Broome, 31st.
New York State is the worst state in the U.S. to do business in, according to The Tax Foundation’s latest Business Tax Climate Index. The Foundation’s interactive map, available online at taxfoundation.org, ranks Wyoming as the best state in order to do business.
“Despite moderate corporate taxes, New York scores at the bottom this year by having the worst individual income tax, the sixth-worst unemployment insurance taxes, and the sixth-worst property taxes. The states in the bottom 10 suffer from the same afflictions: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates,” the report states.
The absence of a major tax is a dominant factor in vaulting many of the best states to do business in to the top of the rankings. Property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there are several states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate tax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Wyoming, Nevada, and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and New Hampshire and Montana have no sales tax.
Property taxes on owner-occupied housing, by county, ranked by property taxes as a percentage of home value (from 2005-2007 is the latest data) found Chenango County - with a median home price of $81,500 - ranking 36th in the nation. Median property taxes paid on homes was $1,827. In comparison, during those years, Harris County, Texas, with median home prices of $126,200, ranked 37. But Texas has no income tax.
Chenango County Treasurer Bill Craine said New York’s Medicaid mandate for county property taxpayers is the reason for upstate counties’ high rankings. When formed, Medicaid was originally a 40/60 cost sharing program split between the federal government and the states. Later, New York lawmakers decided to further share the state’s obligation with counties, making them pay about 25 percent of the bill. Today, except for California, New York is the only state in the nation that requires a county share of Medicaid. New York’s annual bill, the costliest in the nation, is $54 billion dollars to cover some five million people, about a quarter of the state’s population.
It is estimated that Chenango County’s Medicaid bill will be more than an $11 million next year.
“One of the big things we’ve talked about for years in New York is that requirement,” said Craine, who is in the midst of assisting the county’s department directors as they compile their budgets for 2013. “Medicaid flows through the county property tax, and represents about 40 percent of what we are able to raise. It’s one of the reasons our property taxes are so high.”
The gap between what counties take in from property taxes and what they pay for state-mandated programs will reach $4.2 billion annually by the end of the decade. In nearby Cortland County, taxation is almost at its constitutional limit.
The Tax Foundation report does not reflect the progress New York has made in its budget and tax policy over the past two years. Governor Andrew Cuomo and the legislature last year took over all county Medicaid expenses that rise above 3 percent each year. The property tax cap and new pension reform also passed last year are expected to produce benefits over time.
Nonetheless, New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Stephen Acquario called the state’s reliance of county property taxes for Medicaid “absurd” and no longer sustainable. He said the federal and state government have greater resources to come up with the money to fund the health care program, like an income tax and other taxes and fees. NYSAC is recommending a takeover of Medicaid in phases, starting with the state paying for long term care costs first. Acquario says nearly $3 billion dollars in savings expected from the federal Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, could help pay for the partial takeover.
A 2007-2009 ranking from The Tax Foundation, released last month, compared 1,823 counties (out of a possible 3,140) and found not only Chenango County in the top 50 with the largest property tax burden, but also listed 15 upstate New York counties as the highest taxed overall. Orleans County, with 2.99 percent of home value, was first. Neighboring Cortland County was sixth; Madison, 25th; and Broome, 31st.
New York State is the worst state in the U.S. to do business in, according to The Tax Foundation’s latest Business Tax Climate Index. The Foundation’s interactive map, available online at taxfoundation.org, ranks Wyoming as the best state in order to do business.
“Despite moderate corporate taxes, New York scores at the bottom this year by having the worst individual income tax, the sixth-worst unemployment insurance taxes, and the sixth-worst property taxes. The states in the bottom 10 suffer from the same afflictions: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates,” the report states.
The absence of a major tax is a dominant factor in vaulting many of the best states to do business in to the top of the rankings. Property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there are several states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate tax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Wyoming, Nevada, and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and New Hampshire and Montana have no sales tax.
Property taxes on owner-occupied housing, by county, ranked by property taxes as a percentage of home value (from 2005-2007 is the latest data) found Chenango County - with a median home price of $81,500 - ranking 36th in the nation. Median property taxes paid on homes was $1,827. In comparison, during those years, Harris County, Texas, with median home prices of $126,200, ranked 37. But Texas has no income tax.
Chenango County Treasurer Bill Craine said New York’s Medicaid mandate for county property taxpayers is the reason for upstate counties’ high rankings. When formed, Medicaid was originally a 40/60 cost sharing program split between the federal government and the states. Later, New York lawmakers decided to further share the state’s obligation with counties, making them pay about 25 percent of the bill. Today, except for California, New York is the only state in the nation that requires a county share of Medicaid. New York’s annual bill, the costliest in the nation, is $54 billion dollars to cover some five million people, about a quarter of the state’s population.
It is estimated that Chenango County’s Medicaid bill will be more than an $11 million next year.
“One of the big things we’ve talked about for years in New York is that requirement,” said Craine, who is in the midst of assisting the county’s department directors as they compile their budgets for 2013. “Medicaid flows through the county property tax, and represents about 40 percent of what we are able to raise. It’s one of the reasons our property taxes are so high.”
The gap between what counties take in from property taxes and what they pay for state-mandated programs will reach $4.2 billion annually by the end of the decade. In nearby Cortland County, taxation is almost at its constitutional limit.
The Tax Foundation report does not reflect the progress New York has made in its budget and tax policy over the past two years. Governor Andrew Cuomo and the legislature last year took over all county Medicaid expenses that rise above 3 percent each year. The property tax cap and new pension reform also passed last year are expected to produce benefits over time.
Nonetheless, New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Stephen Acquario called the state’s reliance of county property taxes for Medicaid “absurd” and no longer sustainable. He said the federal and state government have greater resources to come up with the money to fund the health care program, like an income tax and other taxes and fees. NYSAC is recommending a takeover of Medicaid in phases, starting with the state paying for long term care costs first. Acquario says nearly $3 billion dollars in savings expected from the federal Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, could help pay for the partial takeover.
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