Hacker News Reader

Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

NYC is rare among American cities in that they impose their own income tax separately from state and federal income taxes. And it applies not just to residents but also to workers who commute in from outside the city. If those employees keep working from home in Connecticut or New Jersey then they no longer have to pay the NYC tax. So I suspect the Mayor is starting to panic about his budget deficit.

View on HN

Philadelphia recently changed their enforcement of the "City Wage Tax" to protect against such things. If you were hired for a position in the city you must pay the tax if your WFH is 40 miles from city limits. They're currently threatening all business small and large with an audit if they don't comply. We've been through four different accounting firms who all told us the same thing.

It's unfortunate but it's still better than paying the tax and making the commute.

They’ll just move that “position” out of the city (what does that even mean) or be outcompeted by a company that does.

I highly suspect that New York City and other cities who take a massive tax hit due to a lack of office workers will promptly introduce new tax laws to remedy that.

San Francisco is having the same issue - they are taking a major hit in taxes due to a lack of commutors.

The NYC income tax does not apply to non-residents: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/nonresident-faqs.htm#nonresi... (edit: linked to clearer section in the FAQ)

This is mostly correct. Prior to 1999 individuals who worked in NYC were required to pay the ~2% income tax regardless of residency. This included people from NJ and CT. They're no longer subject to the tax (the reverse is untrue; I live in NYC and work in NJ, but I'm still required to pay NYC income tax). Historically this was known as the "commuter tax."

Since 2009 residents of NY who live in counties adjacent to NYC are subject to a 0.34% tax if they work in NYC. I believe this tax does not go toward general NYC operations, but rather helps fund the mass-transit that supports their commute. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_tax

So wait, you basically get taxed extra for working in NYC. I didn't know that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com