NEW YORK CITY BUDGET BLUES

As a result of politicians’ draconian lockdown orders, New York City will collect $11.3 billion less in taxes through fiscal 2023 than it had expected according to a 6 January report from NYC’s Independent Budget Office.
Through that time, employment in the City will remain below 2019 levels, the report added. New York City lost about 878,000 jobs in 2020. About 220,000, or 25 percent, returned in the third quarter.
Property taxes, which account for more than 40 percent of the city’s budget, totaled $59 billion last year, compared with $100 billion collected in 2019, the report noted, adding that property tax receipts are likely to bounce back to around $80 billion this year.
Sales tax revenues were down $438 million in 2020, or about 5.6 percent year on year, but the office expects the figure will edge up by $71 million this year.
The leisure and hospitality industry was decimated last year, and its long, slow recovery has set a weight on the City’s economic future, the budget office said.
About 466,000 people worked in that sector at the end of 2019, with the pandemic and economic crisis erasing 217,000 of those jobs, or about 47 percent, by a year later. 
NYC’s hotel occupancy rate was about 40 percent last October, compared to 92 percent a year before, and 200 of New York’s 700 hotels have closed their doors for good. Another 63 now are sheltering homeless persons.
TREND FORECAST: With the exodus from New York City continuing and lockdowns still in place, we do not forecast a significant bounce back in the declining business sectors until the fear and hysteria motivation sold by the media and politicians is replaced with feelings of ease and enjoyment.
Therefore, such industries and tourism and entertainment, which are key sectors for New York City, will not return to pre-COVID War levels for at least three years or possibly longer as the “Greatest Depression” worsens.