New York's Business Climate

As the NY Sun reports today the non-partisan Tax Foundation has found that "New York State has the most hostile business climate in the nation, largely due to higher personal income, sales and business taxes." This report, coming as it does on the heels of similar previous appraisals, makes it clear that our Republican elected officials have failed in their efforts to make the state and the city more business friendly.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this message is getting through, since we don't see any of our city officials proposing tax and regulatory changes that would begin to alleviate this burden. Remember it was Mike Bloomberg who describe NYC as a "luxury item" and characterized the protests of bodegas against the confiscatory cigarette tax as a "minor economic issue."

Bloomberg has yet to demonstrate that he sees economic development as anything but the aggrandizement of large real estate interests. Will the City Council have a different perspective?