Another casualty of Albany’s insatiable appetite for taxes is Science First, a small, family-owned company in Buffalo. After lifetimes in the Buffalo area, Bell and her two sons will move to northern Florida by December. They are taking their company and its 21 jobs with them.
Nathaniel Bell, who’s grandfather started the company said: “I personally feel we are being driven out of the state, that they are effectively saying they don’t want us here anymore. It makes me mad.”
The Bells want to be in upstate but the taxes left them with no economically viable choice. After years of making a go of it in Buffalo, the expense of doing business in this state, increasingly unaffordable over the years, was now a clear obstacle to growth plans.
The decision behind her, she still admits to regrets and anger —aimed mostly at the state and its financial decisions that affect businesses like Science First. “We would have never moved,” Nancy Bell said.
This article describes the plight of many small businesses in NY. How about this one: a person buys rental property in the city of Buffalo, puts a new roof on it, new electric, plumbing, furnaces, hot water tanks, etc. etc.. He rents it out gets rent payments for a couple of months and then nothing. He goes to check on the property and finds the front door off its hinges, the furnaces and hot water heaters gone, the new copper wiring and plumbing stripped out. What does Buffalo do? Issue him a citation for violations. ( This happened under the previous mayor) So I guess the fact that the people in the article were only turned down when asking for help can be looked at as a good thing. They weren’t attacked by the government agency and asked to pay a fine.
Western NY has a population 1/8 the size of Chicago but we have 3 TIMES the amount of government. More than 50% of the population in this state works for government so there won’t be many people voting to make many changes other than those that may increase government as well as government pay.
My opinion on this is that there is no conspiracy, only business as usual. In the past (over the last century) there was less government so when Joe Taxpayer was asked to foot the bill any increases were small, now all those little increases have added up and fewer people are paying taxes and we have reached the point where Joe Taxpayer can’t foot the bill anymore and the government is in uncharted territory where they must actually have a real budget.
We pay $8000 per yr in property taxes while my brother who lives in Alabama pays $250 per yr, and our houses are assessed for virtually the same amount!
If anyone reads a little bit of “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire” and how taxation caused Rome to cave in on itself, may think that we have arrived at the brink right here in the “Empire State”.
My solution is that voters should vote in all the primaries and get all the incumbents out before its too late.
I agree wholeheartedly, these taxes have to stop. I too have a business and am ready to move. I emailed the governor here about the taxes going up and people with business leaving here and homeowners as well. We are all being taxed to death and someone should go into all these government jobs and see how many hours they work and how many are really not working at all am sure we could save billions on laying off workers not needed. That goes for ALL government workers and the higher up as well.