Sick of the Vampire: New Yorkers leave to less expensive states

Lynn Fahlen owned a home in a New York hamlet so appealing it could have been pictured on the cover of a tourism guide.

Sick of the Vampire: New Yorkers leave to less expensive states 635987137333000411-ThinkstockPhotos-515783824

Sick of the Vampire: New Yorkers leave to less expensive states 635987137333000411-ThinkstockPhotos-515783824

Just the name — Groveland — produced visions of verdant rolling hills nestled in the middle of the state’s agricultural hub. Her residence sat on the western edge of New York’s picturesque Finger Lakes region, a short drive from the state’s notable wineries and pristine waters of Conesus and Hemlock lakes.

Then, the 52-year-old moved herself, her horses, dogs and cats from her longtime residence to Sagertown, Pa., 180 miles southeast of her former home.

“Oh my god, what a difference,” Fahlen said of the cross-border defection. The New York native is talking taxes — New York’s burdensome property taxes. Her tax bill is now 60 percent less: from $5,000 a year to $2,000.

Fahlen is part of a growing middle class that, along with aging baby-boomers, is fleeing New York, state and federal records reviewed by Gannett New York showed.

Residents say they are being driven out by some of the highest property taxes in the nation and higher-than-average income taxes that, even though recently lowered, still rank in the top half of the U.S.

School taxes represent the largest portion of a property-tax bill: about 60 percent of the total annual tab. And voters will head to poll May 17 to vote on their school budgets.

The flight is especially acute in economically depressed sections of upstate New York.

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/new-york/2016/05/11/ny-school-leaving-state/84218914/

Sick of the Vampire: New Yorkers leave to less expensive states

Sick of the Vampire: New Yorkers leave to less expensive states

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