In 2010, the 114 active IDAs located throughout the State supported 4,444 projects and provided total tax exemptions of nearly $1.3 billion.
This report seeks to inform that debate by examining the economic and fiscal histories of these other cities between 1980 and 2010, a period characterized by divergent trends for different groups of cities in the Empire State.
Sluggish growth in sales tax revenues adds additional pressure to already strained county budgets and to the budgets of other local governments that receive sales tax revenues through sharing agreements.
IDAs can assist ailing municipalities by encouraging the creation of new businesses or the retention of existing businesses. However, it is vitally important that the granting of tax exemptions for a project will generate an economic benefit in the form of well-paying jobs and/or future new revenues for local governments. In short, incentives should be coupled with performance.
Total local sales tax collections in New York State grew by $439 million, or 3.0 percent, from 2013 to 2014.1 This was less than the 2012 to 2013 growth of 5.2 percent, and the slowest annual growth since the end of the 2008-09 recession.
Sales tax is a major revenue source for New York City and the 57 counties. The strongest growth for 2013 was in the Long Island region Some of the rapid sales tax growth seen there and in New York City was due to the rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Sandy.
Often, the required reports that industrial development agencies (IDAs) submit to OSC and other agencies are incomplete and inconsistent. Recent audits by OSC have found a lack of documented cost-benefit analysis, lack of recapture clauses in many project agreements and insufficient tracking of projects and their incentives.
Although total local sales tax collections have grown each quarter since the end of the 2008-2009 recession, the rate of this growth has shown a downward overall trend.
Local sales tax growth was slower in 2014 than in any year since the 2008-2009 recession, in part due to slow growth in the first quarter of the year. Long Island collections declined, some upstate counties had strong growth due to increased sales tax rates, and New York City's growth was relatively strong.
The sales tax generates 8 percent of all local government revenues in New York State and 27 percent of county revenues. This report examines the general sales and use tax imposed for local governments in the State. It covers the sales tax rates in counties and cities, and trends in sales tax revenues for local governments. It also includes an up-to-date county-level summary of sales tax sharing arrangements and discusses recent activity in the taxation of Internet sales.
