Opinion

Why New York’s economic outlook stinks

Here we go again: Another group is giving New York the lowest possible grade for its economic prospects.

The American Legislative Exchange Council last week put New York last in its 2017 ranking of states’ “economic outlook.” It blames New York’s taxes, its large number of public workers per capita and pro-union laws like the minimum wage.

States that spend and tax less, it says, generally enjoy “higher growth rates.” So don’t expect boom times here anytime soon.

OK: The ALEC rankings ignore other sources of economic strength; its model can’t explain why New York City does so well. But this is far from the only independent review to sound alarms for the Empire State’s long-term success.

  • In its 2017 business-tax-climate index, the Tax Foundation pegged the state second worst, after New Jersey.
  • In last year’s listing of “top states for business,” CNBC called New York sixth-worst in “business friendliness” and seventh-worst for the “cost of doing business.”

One of the best measures of a state’s economic prospects is population growth: Folks go where the jobs are. Yet for half a century, New York has grown slower than the rest of America. In the 12 months through June, the state population shrank for the first time in a decade.

Yes, the city often fares well, as do its suburbs. But much of the rest of New York is in free-fall. Some 43 upstate counties lost more residents than they gained in the past six years.

It suggests “regional economies aren’t very strong,” says the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin. New York, he adds, “needs to do more to improve the business climate.”

On that, Gov. Cuomo has failed miserably. True, he has slowed the growth of state spending and capped property taxes. But that barely scratches the surface of the problem. And he pushes plenty of new pain, from his minimum-wage hikes to his policies that leave New York paying far more than the national average for electricity.

He refuses to confront the public-sector unions’ death-grip on state and local budgets, which has led to sky-high pension and other costs. And instead of scrapping business regulations, he’s added them.

Last week, American Petroleum Institute New York director Karen Moreau blasted his fracking ban and refusal to OK new natural-gas pipelines, which further hurt upstate. Some counties there, she noted, actually lost GDP — an “economic depression.”

Cuomo’s approach may have earned him praise from special-interest groups, like the unions and the greens. But it sure has come at a steep price for the rest of New York.