ALBANY — New York's population is declining, but does anybody in the state Capitol care?

That's a question I've been asking for awhile now, as alarming population outflows reported by the census were met with apparent indifference from Albany lawmakers. Why haven't they been sick to their stomachs over a trend that, more than any other, reflects the true state of this state?

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Consider that New York has lost population four years straight, the census says, because the inflow of immigrants and those from other states has not kept up with the outflow of 1.4 million residents since 2010. One-point-four million! That's a lot of people.

Last year, New York's population declined by 77,000 residents, the census says. Only Alaska lost a larger percentage.

Some good news: At least two lawmakers are taking notice. State Sen. Jim Tedisco, the Glenville Republican, and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, a Democrat from Rotterdam, say they're going to survey New Yorkers on why they're departing and hold roundtable events on how to turn the tide.

"People are leaving every day and they're leaving in droves," Tedisco told me. "It's really the elephant in the room, and we want to shine a light on the fact that nobody is addressing it."

Why are New Yorkers voting with their feet? One reason is obvious.

It isn't merely the weather, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo has claimed. It isn't crime, which is generally lower here than in the states to which New Yorkers often move. It's not depression over the continued awfulness of the Jets, Giants and Knicks.

I'll give you a hint: It's something that's higher here than anywhere in the nation. Care to guess? One more hint: The word rhymes with faxes.

That's right! Taxes!! Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.

New Yorkers, especially retirees, want to be somewhere where the taxation isn't quite so oppressive. For evidence, look at Empire Center for Public Policy data showing that about a third of the outflow is to neighboring states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where the tax rates are more palatable.

(Obviously, no New Yorker would ever move to Pennsylvania without a financial incentive to do so.)

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But taxes aren't the only problem, and if the effort by Tedisco and Santabarbara succeeds, it will force lawmakers to consider the other ingredients in the stew causing New Yorkers to leave, including the overall cost of living and the grim job market in much of the state. And it will identify changes that would induce more New Yorkers to stick around.

Here's one simple idea: A moat around the state. It would be a grand infrastructure project, like the Erie Canal but heated and stocked with alligators and piranha.

If that seems too ambitious, here's another idea: Free college tuition. Seriously.

From my conversations with other parents, the Excelsior Scholarship program, initially announced in 2017, is a reason for families to stay. So expand its income caps, as Cuomo is already proposing to do, or get rid of them entirely. Make New York's public colleges truly free.

I know what some of you are thinking: Churchill, you fool. You were just griping about high taxes, and now you're saying New York should take on a costly new commitment?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

For one thing, it's local property taxes that are the biggest problem, not the state taxes that would fund free college. Secondly, people forget that we've had free college before. The University at Albany didn't charge tuition for most students until the early 1960s; in 1973, incoming freshmen paid just $325 per semester.

OK Boomers, why shouldn't today's kids have what you had?

I don't think New Yorkers mind paying higher-than-average taxes, so long as they see real, tangible benefits that would reduce the difficulties of their lives.

When I write about taxes, I often get letters from readers appalled that I want to slash budgets down to, say, Mississippi levels. That's not at all what I'm saying. If we could lower property taxes to the rates paid in Massachusetts, that would be a tremendous achievement.

Whenever I write about population decline, I hear from readers annoyed that I want a Texas-style population explosion for New York. No, no. Slow and steady growth, like what the Capital Region has, would be just fine.

What can't continue is a population slide that's killing communities and separating families in entire swaths of the state. What can't continue is state government's apparent determination to ignore what's happening.

Which brings us back to the effort by Tedisco and Santabarbara.

While their survey isn't ready yet — I'll let you know when it is — Tedisco said he's already receiving thousands of emails from former New Yorkers. Many felt financially compelled to go, no doubt, often leaving grandchildren and beloved hometowns behind.

As Tedisco noted, the scary thing is that many more New Yorkers might depart if they had the money to move.

How bitterly ironic for a state with a motto, Excelsior, that means "ever upward."

cchurchill@timesunion.com ■ 518-454-5442 ■ @chris_churchill