Opinion

Taxed to the max

Just days after noting our surprise that Gov. Cuomo was consulting with the same Tax Foundation his aide once dissed as a biased, right-wing think tank, the group has come out with its latest rankings.

And for the seventh year in a row, the Tax Foundation has found New Yorkers suffering from the highest local and state tax burden in America.

Taxpayers in this state collectively forked over 12.6 percent of their income to state and local governments, the foundation reports. That’s more than in any other state.

Cuomo’s folks don’t deny it, though one did try to blame “past tax hikes that occurred before the governor took office.”

Now, it’s true the numbers are from 2011, and it’s also true that prior administrations indeed jacked up levies.

But so did Cuomo when he kept a millionaire’s tax that was supposed to expire. And though he’s tinkered around the edges, in general he’s preferred complicated systems of tax-free zones, property-tax rebates and tax credits instead of broad reductions in rates.

We see the consequences of New York’s system in the 6.8 percent jobless rate for February, which ranks us in the bottom half of states. We also have the third-largest share of long-term unemployed (those seeking a job for more than 26 weeks). No wonder why successful people are fleeing this state for friendlier tax climes.

In other words, New York’s last-place ranking is more than an embarrassment. A state that gobbles so much of what its citizens earn makes it difficult for real people who want a decent place to live, work and raise families. And we are in this spot because of the only truly bipartisan coalition we have in Albany: one built on taxing, spending and regulating.

The real message for New York from the latest Tax Foundation report is that even if the Empire State were to move up 10 places in the rankings, we’d still be down at the bottom of the heap. What we need is a radical overhaul aimed at making New York competitive with the top.

And a governor bold enough to do it.