Out of State Health Care Workers Who Volunteered to Help NY During Virus Have to Pay State Income Tax

Nick Kangadis | May 6, 2020

If the government - federal or state - doesn't try to get their hands on your money in one way or another, they're not doing their jobs. Power and money grabs, the only jobs government seems to have anymore. Here's another gross case of government overreach.

Remember in late March when Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo begged health care workers from across the country to come to New York to help fight the novel coronavirus that some New York officials downplayed in the first place? You remember that, right?

"We’re [New York] the ones who are hit now," Cuomo said. "That’s today, but tomorrow it’s going to somewhere else, whether it’s Detroit, whether it’s New Orleans. It will work it’s way across the country."

To be fair, he did say this wasn't only a New York problem. But, he still made the request for health care workers to come to New York.

Well, the workers that volunteered to help out are getting a rude awakening regarding their compensation for joining the fight. They have to pay New York state income taxes, not only on the money they make while working in the state of New York, but also the money they receive from their home jobs.

That's right. Even if you make money from outside the state of New York, you have to pay New York income taxes. That's a slap in the face considering New York has the highest income taxes in the U.S., at least through 2019.

Cuomo spoke about the financial issues New York is having at a press conference on Tuesday.

"We're not in a position to provide any subsidies right now because we have a $13 billion deficit," Cuomo said. "So there's a lot of good things I'd like to do, and if we get federal funding, we can do, but it would be irresponsible for me to sit here looking at a $13 billion deficit and say I'm gonna spend more money, when I can't even pay the essential services."

So then what will the incentive be for the amount of people New York needed and/or would need to drop everything and come help out in now and in the future? A lot of these people are working for no money and if they work in the state for longer than 14 days, the state government takes their cut from the wages they receive back home. Sick.

According to PIX 11 - New York:

Any out-of-state resident who's come to the Empire State to work on coronavirus relief is subject to the tax after 14 days here.

There are thousands of emergency workers here who've responded to requests by Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio for help. Many of them are collecting paychecks from companies back in their home states, which allowed them to come to New York to volunteer.

People more times than not do want to help others in need. At the same time, those helpful people still need to pay their bills.

Here's video of Cuomo's "plea" from late March: