The slow creep of communism has increasingly looked like “Atlas Shrugged” as a new report quantified the billions in tax revenue lost to New York amid denials from Gotham’s mayor.
Coupling calls for reparations with entitlement programs for illegal aliens at the same time funds are cut for first responders, and taxes are hiked, leftists appear to be constantly outdoing one another in their race to the bottom. Monday, the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) quantified the impact takers have had in driving away makers from the Empire State at a cost of nearly $11 billion in 2022 alone.
According to the CBC’s Competitive NYS Value Proposition Tracker report, “New York’s declining share of high-income taxpayers has meaningful consequences. Had New York maintained its share of the nation’s millionaires over the past decade, personal income tax collections would have been substantially higher — roughly $10.7 billion more in tax year 2022.”
Leading the nation in state and local taxes in 2023, with a per capita of $12,495 — 78% above the rest of the country — the report found New York losing residents to net migration, especially to Florida and Texas. Meanwhile, population upticks in 2023 and 2024 were a result of illegal aliens descending on the state for handouts.
Asked about the report showing the share of millionaires in New York declined from 2010 to 2022 more than any other state, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), who previously served as a state assemblyman, seemingly denied the reality, referring to legislation to raise taxes, “And what we found is after passing that and raising billions of dollars that helped our state to finally meet the terms of the campaign for fiscal equity, that we in fact had more millionaires than we had prior.”
(Video Credit: NYC Mayor’s Office)
“I’ve been very clear about the fact that we live in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and it’s unacceptable that one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty. And I believe that the wealthiest can do a little bit more to ensure that everyone can afford to live here,” he went on.
Neither Mamdani nor the report accounted for the source of the millionaires, and while the total number did increase, New York was far outpaced by Texas, Florida, and even California in the years since 2010.
“From 2010 to 2022,” detailed the CBC, “New York’s share of the nation’s millionaires declined from 12.7 percent to 8.7 percent. New York’s number of millionaires doubled, but it tripled in California and Texas and quadrupled in Florida, leaving New York State with the fourth-most millionaires behind those states.”
Speaking to the New York Post, Tax Foundation senior fellow Jared Walczak addressed the impact the highest earners have on state tax revenue, “In New York, the top 1% of earners pay about 45% of all state income taxes in any given year, so New York’s revenue is very reliant on high earners to stay in New York, and that has been a challenge in recent years.”
“Gracie Mansion can’t do it on its own; it takes Albany. Pied-Ã -terre will have some impact, but there’s this feeling that New York isn’t done raising taxes, and with other places being more competitive, it won’t be surprising if high-earner taxpayers choose to relocate,” he went on, addressing the tax increase on second homes.
While Mamdani spun a narrative in defense of his communist ends, he’d already been called out publicly by Citadel’s Ken Griffin, who criticized the “creepy” video taken outside his penthouse, indicating that he would be making greater investments in Miami based on Hizzoner’s policies.
Upstate United Executive Director Justin Wilcox shared his own reaction with the Post, faulting the capital as he said, “With this CBC tool, Upstate New Yorkers can see for themselves the devastating impacts of Albany’s policies — businesses failing to grow, population decline and the loss of revenue. NYS needs to course correct now before it’s too late and we become permanently entrenched in a cycle of fewer people.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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