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Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

startup-ny.com

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Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#71

Post by jpwright »

crazygringo wrote: post #54

This is pretty awesome, and it seems to apply to New York City too: - In New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, businesses must be start-ups or one of a number of broadly defined “high technology” businesses. But this looks like a major caveat: - Participation in START-UP NY does not necessarily require that your business be on or next to a campus, but it must be located on property affiliated with a univ…

Those 3 locations (all at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn) are "representative of the types of properties that may be available following submission of an application by the relevant university/college and approval by ESD and/or the Start-Up Approval Board". So, you could work with any university in NYC, not just SUNY Downstate (although the campus is a really nice spot for startups as well!)

NYU Poly operates incubators at Jay St/MetroTech in Brooklyn and Varick St in Manhattan. Columbia has a biotech incubator (AUDOBON) in Washington Heights. Cornell has 22k ft^2 in Google's building in Chelsea. All of those sounds like they would qualify (if you could get the right people on board)

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#72

Post by silverlake »

dworin wrote: post #36
jrockway wrote: post #11

Don't start your startup in New York or San Francisco. Rents here are twice what they are in more reasonable parts of the country, and you get absolutely nothing in exchange except maybe a slightly-less-shallow talent pool. (Oh, and cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches.) Your employees will be paid twice as well, and your offices will be twice as nice... for free... if you locate yourself outside the expensive parts of t…

I have a small company in New York, and agree with all of your reasons why it's terrible. The one advantage besides talent pool (which is a big advantage!) that both New York and San Francisco have, and that's often overlooked, is proximity to customers. If you're in a business where high touch sales are important, or where you need to be able to meet regularly with your customers, it's very difficult to do remotely.…

Couldn't you put sales in NYC, but everything else in NJ/CT? Lots of banks have finally wised up to that.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#73

Post by im_a_lawyer »

jrockway wrote: post #11

Don't start your startup in New York or San Francisco. Rents here are twice what they are in more reasonable parts of the country, and you get absolutely nothing in exchange except maybe a slightly-less-shallow talent pool. (Oh, and cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches.) Your employees will be paid twice as well, and your offices will be twice as nice... for free... if you locate yourself outside the expensive parts of t…

NYC is much cheaper than SF and much more pleasant to live in than vast majority of cities in the US. You wouldn't convince me to live anywhere on the west. I would rather make 2x less money in NYC than live in some tract suburb with identical housing, identical shops and identical people. Been there, done that.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#74

Post by gaadd33 »

joonix wrote: post #69
jrockway wrote: post #11

Don't start your startup in New York or San Francisco. Rents here are twice what they are in more reasonable parts of the country, and you get absolutely nothing in exchange except maybe a slightly-less-shallow talent pool. (Oh, and cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches.) Your employees will be paid twice as well, and your offices will be twice as nice... for free... if you locate yourself outside the expensive parts of t…

Nonsense. New York is not nearly as bad as SF for rent. I know someone who just rented a studio in the heart of lower Manhattan for $1500 and that includes heat and water. On top of that you don't need a car or Uber or any of that. Unlimited subway pass and/or a bike or CitiBike membership and you're set. That is absolutely manageable for a tech professional and well worth it for all the benefits of living here and a…

$1500? Sounds like they got lucky. Streeteasy shows only 3 apartments for rent for less than $1500 and one is an SRO. (http://streeteasy.com/nyc/for-rent/downtown/rental_type:frbo...)

I'm sure you can find a really tiny non legal space in Chinatown or similar but I'm not sure I would call that a bargain.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#75

Post by gojomo »

I love startups and hate high taxes, but programs like this are bad.

The rewards go to firms most able to jump through confusing and often quite arbitrary eligibility hoops, or race to collect benefits before they are capped. (In some cases, the firms' skill in doing so is because they helped draft the program or otherwise have connections to the governing authorities.)

Jurisdictions get into bidding wars for the new/relocating firms able to qualify... but continue to subject older/less-politically-connected firms to growth-stunting tax levels. So it's creating incentives to move/restructure/game-the-rules, and an uneven playing field between sources of growth, and advantaging lawyers and policy-arbitrageurs above other more customer-focused innovators.

Just make a fair, welcoming environment for all employers, new and old, big and small, novice and expert, insider and outsider.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#76

Post by pbreit »

This is why I hate being a democrat ( I know republicans do the same thing but I think hard to argue they have a stronger overall position of lower taxes for everyone). This kind of stuff is embarrassing. It seems like a secondary but big reason taxes are so high is so that politicos can hand out stupid breaks like this to arbitrary groups. Plus the fairly obvious admission that taxes diminish business growth.

I would say that tax breaks are not compelling to startups since they play almost no role. But the employee income tax waiver might be significant.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#77

Post by gaadd33 »

notastartup wrote: post #62
PaulHoule wrote: post #6

As a New Yorker, I think this sucks. We already pay high taxes and if somebody gets a tax break that means all the rest of us will pay even more.

it can't be higher than Vancouver, BC. Tax Payable on Earning 150k: $$20,127 CAD (New York) $45,624 CAD (Vancouver, BC) 1.07 (USD/CAD)

Is that $45K total Canadian taxes on it or just what you pay to BC?

$150K CAD ($140K USD) in NYC will result in you paying ~$58K CAD ($55K USD) in taxes between City, State and Federal.

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#79

Post by rjsamson »

jrockway wrote: post #11

Don't start your startup in New York or San Francisco. Rents here are twice what they are in more reasonable parts of the country, and you get absolutely nothing in exchange except maybe a slightly-less-shallow talent pool. (Oh, and cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches.) Your employees will be paid twice as well, and your offices will be twice as nice... for free... if you locate yourself outside the expensive parts of t…

This program is largely focused on economic development in New York State outside of NYC. In NYC the program actually carries additional restrictions, while in Upstate NY it is easier for Universities to apply to designate space, and for companies be approved.

Unlike NYC, in Upstate NY rent and required salaries are lower - it's a great place to start a company (though I may be a bit biased).

Re: Start-up NY: 100% Tax-Free for 10 Years?

#80

Post by skyebook »

jpwright wrote: post #71
crazygringo wrote: post #54

This is pretty awesome, and it seems to apply to New York City too: - In New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, businesses must be start-ups or one of a number of broadly defined “high technology” businesses. But this looks like a major caveat: - Participation in START-UP NY does not necessarily require that your business be on or next to a campus, but it must be located on property affiliated with a univ…

Those 3 locations (all at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn) are "representative of the types of properties that may be available following submission of an application by the relevant university/college and approval by ESD and/or the Start-Up Approval Board". So, you could work with any university in NYC, not just SUNY Downstate (although the campus is a really nice spot for startups as well!) NYU Poly opera…

I'm curious if SUNY gets what it wants and is allowed to close LICH whether they'd hang on to some of the space and try to get research into the area.. That's a huge tract of land (and I'd like to see it not sit completely vacant for a few years)

NYU-Poly has another incubator spot further up Jay St in DUMBO as well, looks like a nice space from the 15 minutes I've spent inside.

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