STATEMENT OF THE
SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS ASSOCIATION
BEFORE THE
NEW YORK STATE JOINT LEGISLATIVE PUBLIC HEARING ON 2021 EXECUTIVE
BUDGET PROPOSAL: TAXES
TUESDAY, FEBURARY 23, 2021

On behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA),1 we thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the proposed 2021 Executive Budget. SIFMA brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers located throughout New York State and across the country. The New York financial services industry supports approximately one million total jobs in the state. There are nearly 370,000 people employed by the financial services industry in New York State and about 280,000 of those are in New York City.2 These financial services jobs support an additional 596,900 jobs in other sectors throughout the state. SIFMA’s mission is to support a strong financial services industry, investor opportunity, capital formation, job creation, and economic growth. This mission is consistent with the goals of the FY 2022 Executive Budget to reimagine, rebuild, and renew New York State as we ready for post-COVID-19.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 caused severe economic and capital market disruption. In an unprecedented move, federal, state and local governments purposely shut down economic activity to prevent the spread of the virus and as a result, in 2Q20 the U.S. economy took the sharpest drop into recession on record. The pandemic, and the associated business closures, event cancellations, and work-from-home policies, has had a devastating impact on the labor market.

By the end of 2020, the economy had rebounded, but not enough to erase the losses from the first half of the year. At a time when employers are considering how to best restructure their operations post-COVID, reinstatement of the Stock Transfer Tax (STT) (or a broader financial transaction tax) that would ultimately be paid by New Yorkers would be a significant hurdle to reopening.