In my previous post, I showed that extremely high public school expenditures drive the high taxes, generally high property taxes, in the portion of the state outside New York City. But what about New York City? Its public education spending, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is and recent decades always has been below average as a share of its residents’ personal income. Spending on community colleges, parks, recreation, natural resources and libraries is and almost always has been low. So where does the money go?
New York City’s spending, as a share of its residents’ income, is far above average in means tested social benefits, in spending on housing and community development, public housing, social services, and cash welfare – although cash welfare expenditures are now a pittance compared with the other categories. Spending on police and corrections, as well, is and has been high. Another group of spending categories where New York has always been high, however, accounts for a growing share of the city’s tax burden, and a growing cause of spending cuts in other categories: debts, pensions, and employee health care, for retirees in particular. After a brief respite, and as in the terrible decade after the fiscal crisis, city residents are facing rising taxes due to the past, with less and less in public services return in the present, as those who benefitted walk away with a bundle of loot.
