New York: the least free state?
Feeling crushed by the boot heel of the state?
New York is ranked as "by far the least free state" in the country, in a recent report from a "market-oriented" (libertarian) think tank at George Mason University.
From the Mercatus Center's Freedom in the 50 States:
New York is by far the least free state in the Union. It has also experienced the most interstate emigration of any state over the last decade. New York has by far the highest taxes in the country. Property, selective sales, individual income, and corporate-income taxes are particularly high. Spending on public welfare, hospitals, electric power, transit, employee retirement, and "other and unallocable" expenses are well above national norms. Only Alaska has more government debt as a percentage of the economy. On personal freedoms, gun laws are extremely restrictive, but marijuana laws are better than average, while tobacco laws are extremely strict, and cigarette taxes are the highest in the country. Motorists are highly regulated, and homeschool regulations are excessive, but nondrug victimless-crimes arrests are low. New York has the strictest health-insurance community-rating regulations in the country, which have wiped out the individual market. Mandated coverages are worse than average but were actually cut back substantially in 2007-2008. Eminent domain abuse is rampant and unchecked. Perversely (in our view), the state has stricter contribution limits for grassroots PACs than for corporate and union PACs. On the positive side, occupational licensing is somewhat better than average.
The report includes some recommendations on how the Empire State can loosen the bonds of imperial tyranny. Among them: legalize same-sex marriage.
Of course, freedom is a subjective thing to some degree. For example: you can't smoke in restaurants here, which you could say is restricting freedom -- but if you're a non-smoker, that also means you don't have to suffer the consequences of someone else's decision (which smells a bit like freedom). The report's authors describe how they define freedom (Locke is mentioned prominently -- no, not the Lost character).
A different approach might have been to look at another thing economists love to talk about: tradeoffs. What do we get for trading some of these freedoms? Is it enough?
The report's authors talk about how people could use the rankings to make choices about where to move. So, what are the most free states? The top 5: New Hampshire (no surprise), South Dakota, Indiana, Idaho, Missouri. Uh, we're not packing the moving truck just yet.
But, yeah, the taxes in New York -- yow, TOO DAMN high.
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Comments
does the methodology include "smoking in bars"
because if not, wow, way to be an apologist for the monstrosity that is NYS government
... said Ike on Jun 16, 2011 at 8:00 PM | link
@Ike: Just one small, short example -- not necessarily an entire critique of the state. (And they did mention that "tobacco laws are extremely strict" in New York.)
... said Greg on Jun 16, 2011 at 8:58 PM | link
Like everyone else, I'm all for personal freedom. But I just cannot "buy" the argument that an entire social structure should be based primarily on economic concepts of entrepreneurship and market forces. Libertarianism has always sounded like hooey to me....
... said Bob on Jun 16, 2011 at 9:15 PM | link
So South Dakota, with the strictest anti-abortion laws and the most anti-feminist laws in the country is rated above NY? Sorry, you can take your libertarian ideas back to Idaho or the deep south.
... said chezjake on Jun 17, 2011 at 12:22 AM | link
Conversely, it is New York State's strong real estate laws that allow squatters to live in their house 900+ days mortgage-free before the banks finally foreclose on them and kick them out for real. That is if they can prove chain of title in court. Freedom!
... said Jeff S on Jun 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM | link
Rather than calling New York the "least free state," I would characterize us as the state with the most governmental micro-management.
... said Tim on Jun 17, 2011 at 9:50 AM | link
Selective sales tax? I just returned from the Phoenix area where the sales tax is 9% and there is a 2% tax on FOOD!!!
... said stella on Jun 17, 2011 at 10:58 AM | link
Libertarians are ridiculous.
... said Em on Jun 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM | link
Non-smokers have the freedom go to another restaurant and spend there money elsewhere. Privately owned restaurants also have the right to allow or disallow smoking in their establishment. The restaurant that accommodates consumers and/or consumers seem to enjoy more will survive/grow in the end. That's market forces working with freedom if you ask me.
... said Andy on Jun 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM | link