New York Is Least Free State In US, Libertarian Group Say

NEW YORK, NY – New York is the least free state in the union, a libertarian think tank's study has revealed.

The right-leaning Cato Institute published its “Freedom in the 50 States” report this month which looks at how the group rates each state's effort to promote fiscal, regulatory and personal freedom.

The researchers collected data on more than 230 state and local public policies that impact individual freedom. Florida was crowned the freest state in America while New Hampshire and West Virginia have seen the most improvement in expanding personal liberties.

New York is dead last in the overall freedom rankings. Our best rankings came in Incarceration and Alcohol and our worst fell in the Fiscal, Regulatory, Economic, Lawsuit and Tobacco categories.

But the group had some advice for how to increase liberty in the state.

"To improve its ranking, the Cato Institute recommends New York cuts spending on hospitals, housing, public buildings, public welfare, education, corrections, police and fire sanitation and sewerage, employee retirement and “miscellaneous,” which are all above national averages. They also recommend getting rid of rent control and slashing cigarette taxes.

Here’s how New York ranked in each category:

• Fiscal: 50
• Regulatory: 50
• Personal: 40
• Economic: 50
• Lawsuit: 50
• Land: 46
• Marriage: 20
• Education: 37
• Occupational: 41
• Victimless, which relates to actions the group considers harm noone: 36
• Health insurance: 30
• Labor: 47
• Alcohol: 17
• Asset Forfeiture: 48
• Gambling: 18
• Tobacco: 50
• Guns: 43
• Cannabis: 18
• Cable: 46
• Incarceration: 10
• Travel: 48
• Miscellaneous: 37
• Campaign finance: 31

New York has not changed in ranking from 2014. Here's what the authors had to say:

"New York has been the least free state in the country for a long time. Economic freedom is the most significant weakness, but the state has not kept up with the rest of the country on personal freedom either."

The report said groups seeing their personal liberties slide include smokers, builders, affordable housing buyers, aspiring professionals who want to ply a trade without paying “onerous examination and education costs,” and less-skilled workers who’ve been “priced out of the market by minimum wage laws.”

Here are the top 10 freest states, according to the Cato Institute report:

1. Florida
2. New Hampshire
3. Indiana
4. Colorado
5. Nevada
6. North Dakota
7. Tennessee
8. South Dakota
9. Arizona
10. Kansas

Florida and New Hampshire significantly outpaced the other top five states, the authors noted.

“Florida’s rise since 2009 has been nothing short of stunning,” the study said. “While most states have improved on freedom in that time if federalized policies are excluded, Florida’s post-2010 improvement has been the third-greatest in the United States (after Wisconsin and Alaska).”

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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