As residents flee New York's high taxes, state uses intrusive audits to get cash from defectors

Foxnews ^

[Red in Blue PA]

New York state goes to extraordinary lengths to catch wealthy residents who try to flee its burdensome taxes, leaving a gaping hole in the state’s treasury.

The aggressive approach by state tax collectors comes as the Empire State faces a $2.3 billion budget deficit that even Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called “as serious as a heart attack.”

Cuomo, a vocal critic of President Trump, blamed congressional Republicans for passing tax reforms that reduced the state and local tax deduction Americans can take on their annual income tax forms -- meaning residents of high-tax blue states like New York have been feeling the pinch, sparking their exodus.

“This is the flip side. Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich,” Cuomo said last month. “We did. Now, God forbid, the rich leave.”

[Red in Blue PA]

Excerpt:

But New York state auditors are doing their best to ensure that those fleeing the state’s high taxes will face difficulties, including being subjected to an audit — likely to be followed by a massive tax bill.

New York conducted 3,000 “nonresidency” audits between 2010 and 2017, recouping around $1 billion from the practice, CNBC reported.

Between 2015 and 2017, the auditors on average collected $144,270 per audit, with more than half of those who were audited losing their cases.

New York’s success rate on audits can be attributed not only to the traditional methods of investigation like going through an individual’s credit card bills, but also to new high-tech tools that include tracking phone records, social media, and even veterinary and dentist records, according to the outlet.

[vaskypilot]

Rush Limbaugh has been the victim of these audits for years.

[Rurudyne]

Please let them flee to places besides Texas....

[kearnyirish2]

For what its worth, they can’t take money from you that you don’t owe; I’m no fan of NY government, but plenty of people are trying to have it both ways and may be breaking the law to do so.

[Lurker]

“Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich,” Cuomo said last month. “We did. Now, God forbid, the rich leave.”

Duh.

L

[kearnyirish2]

The whole situation with Rush was ridiculous; the governor at the time (Paterson?) wanted to tax the wealthy, and Rush picked up and left. The dopey governor said he’d have passed the tax increase sooner if he knew it would chase Limbaugh out. Rush took his NY state and NYC tax revenue and moved to a place that has neither; it is a RADIO SHOW - he doesn’t need to be in that high-tax sh!thole.

[Clutch Martin]

If u move to another state a partial is still due the state, county, and or city you left. Unless those entities do not pro-rate.

[Alberta's Child]

Whattup?

You're exactly right about this. A lot of people from NY move to a place like Florida and claim it as their primary residence, but they keep a home in NY and spend most of their time in NY anyway. These people are morons.

And since NY is getting an average of more than $140,000 in unpaid taxes from these audits, they're obviously very rich morons.

[iontheball]

Just ask Rush about this tactic. They harassed him for years with audits before and after he left NY. They couldn’t fleece him enough while he was there and after he left the continued to come after him. They have a very narrow non-residency taxing law that allows them to come after you if you spend but a few days in the state during a tax year. Naturally, they only apply this law to wealthy individuals who spend time in the state during the tax year. What a way to guarantee that no one ever returns to the state.

[pepsionice]

The lesson here...is when you leave, you ‘burn that bridge entirely’. You don’t go back to visit folks. You don’t fly into JFK. You move everything you own out of NY state.

[kearnyirish2]

How’s things?

I don’t sympathize with the targets of the audits if the state of NY can find $1 of revenue; do your research, and when they come up empty they’ll leave you alone.

The problem for the state is that eventually they run out of targets; it isn’t like young people today are “making a go of it” in NY and can be pursued in twenty years when they pack up and leave. They’re leaving just to get a start somewhere else...

[LibWhacker]

Clearly unconstitutional. Wiki (from where all my legal knowledge flows) sez:

Travel within the United States
Constitutional freedom

As early as the Articles of Confederation the Congress recognized freedom of movement (Article 4), though the right was thought to be so fundamental during the drafting of the Constitution as not needing explicit enumeration.[4]

The U.S. Supreme Court in Crandall v. Nevada, 73 U.S. 35 (1868) declared that freedom of movement is a fundamental right and therefore a state cannot inhibit people from leaving the state by taxing them.

[Alberta's Child]

NY's law isn't exactly "narrow," and it actually makes sense. NY simply says two things:

1. You pay taxes on all income you earn in NY, even if you don't live in NY. This is how pro athletes from visiting teams get hit for NY taxes on the small portion of their high income they earn for games they play in NY.

2. You pay taxes on all income you earn ANYWHERE ... if NY is your primary residence.

Wealthy taxpayers try to figure out how to balance their lives and work needs to minimize their NY tax obligations. I believe NY considers itself to be your primary residence if you spend at least six months plus one day there in a tax year.

[kearnyirish2]

That is why the Yankees spring training is in Florida - a state with no income tax.

[kearnyirish2]

No, you don’t have to do that (avoid visiting) - just don’t “work” there - and certainly sell anything you own there.

[Alberta's Child]

That’s right. Look what happened with that guy Tepper who left New Jersey a few years ago and took his $100+ million in state tax revenue with him. He established his credibility as an out-of-state resident by buying an NFL team in North Carolina. LOL.

[kearnyirish2]

Even “Sandy” Cortez’ mother left NY for Florida...probably knew what her daughter was going to cost her.

[SkyPilot]

States rights were embedded in the Constitution as a check on the an all powerful Federal Government. Before the Civil War, the Federal Government had far less power.

The Civil War changed all of that.

Today, most state governments are nothing more than a second fleece on people's incomes and rights.

Gun laws that don't exist at the Federal level are passed at the state level to deprive people of their Constitutional right. Then the Feds tax us, the states tax us, and the localities tax us.

We the People are constantly squeezed by this vice grip of taxation/denial of rights.

The courts deny what the Constitution says and blatantly violate our rights, while robed tyrants make up their own "law" out of the thin air.

We are more oppressed than our forefathers were in 1775, a lot more.

We are on the verge of slavery, if we are not there already.

[Ouderkirk]

Yankees spring training is in Florida

Alternatively, you're not playing baseball or practicing outdoors when it's 20 degrees. Practicing indoors is simply not the same as outdoors.