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Commentary By E. J. McMahon

Bear Market Spells Big Trouble for NY State and City Budgets

Economics Tax & Budget

Stock prices recently dropped 20 percent since their peak at the beginning of the year.

Wall Street generates an outsized share of New York’s tax revenue, so the recent drop in stock prices should worry both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams — even if a recession doesn’t quickly follow.

The securities industry generates 20% of total private wages in the city, despite comprising only 5% of private employment. In all, one out of every nine jobs in every category is either directly or indirectly associated with Wall Street, the state comptroller has estimated.

Last year’s bull market helped fill Albany’s coffers to overflowing with higher taxes on capital gains, investment-firm profits and bonuses. But that wave has now receded.

Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post

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E.J. McMahon is a senior fellow at the Empire Center for Public Policy and a Manhattan Institute ­adjunct fellow. Follow him on Twitter here.

This piece originally appeared in New York Post