Report: NYC ‘tech ecoystem’ brings in $5.6 billion in taxes for city

By Josh Peterson | Watchdog.org

A recent report estimates that New York City’s burgeoning tech industry generates $5.6 billion in annual taxes for the city.

The job growth findings of the report, entitled, “The New York City Tech Ecosystem: Generating Economic Opportunities For All New Yorkers,” touted early on as a huge success for the sector and the city.

The city’s tech sector employs 7 percent of the city’s workforce, and during the past 10 years technology jobs increased by 18 percent.

But perhaps the amount of money the city makes from the industry is interesting as the job growth numbers the sector boasts.

$2.5 billion is generated through commercial and residential real estate taxes; $1.3 billion comes from personal income taxes; $0.9 billion is generated from sales and use taxes; and $0.9 billion comes from corporation and business income taxes.

“This revenue derives from a variety of City taxes and is critical to funding vital City services like education, fire, and police,” states the report.

Released on Wednesday, the report — prepared by real estate, economic development and energy- efficiency advisory firm HR&A Advisors — was commissioned by the Association for a Better New York, Citi, Google and NY Tech Meetup.

Contact Josh Peterson at jpeterson@watchdog.org. Follow Josh on Twitter at @jdpeterson