Thanks to its complex tax policies, New York found itself once again near the bottom of the rankings in the Tax Foundation’s 2023 State Business Tax Climate Index.

For the fifth straight year, the Empire State came in next to last in the annual study, which the public policy nonprofit group released earlier this week. As has been the case since 2019, only neighboring New Jersey kept New York from hitting the bottom.

The Tax Foundation uses the index to review how each state structures its various tax systems. That includes levies on businesses and individuals as well as taxes on property and sales. Typically, states that do not have income taxes or sales taxes or have low rates across the board fare better in the report.

New York generally fared poorly in the study. Its best ranking was for corporate taxes, where it ranked 24th. It finished 40th for unemployment insurance taxes, 43rd for sales taxes, next to last for property taxes and last in personal income tax.

The study found New York had the third highest marginal rate for individual income taxes. At 10.9%, New York was behind only California (13.3%) and Hawaii (11%).

One of the worst parts of New York’s individual income tax was its recapture provision, which applies to the top tier of its tax bracket.

“New York’s recapture provision is the most damaging and results in an approximately $22,000 penalty for reaching the top bracket,” the report stated. “Income recapture provisions are poor policy, because they result in dramatically high marginal tax rates at the point of their kick-in, and they are nontransparent in that they raise tax burdens substantially without being reflected in the statutory rate.”

The report also listed New York for having a tax base that creates “an unnecessary drag on economic activity,” along with California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Ohio.

For sales taxes, New York actually has one of the lowest rates for those states that have a sales tax at 4%, but the 4.52% average local option sales tax rate is one of the highest in the country.

Regarding property taxes, the Tax Foundation’s report used Census Bureau data to determine per capita amounts paid. Only New Jersey ($3,513), New Hampshire ($3,246) and Connecticut ($3,215) had higher per capita rates than New York’s $3,180.