New York’s share of millionaires plunges under Mamdani’s socialist policies

New York accounted for 12.7% of people earning more than $1 million annually in 2010. That figure has since dropped to 8.7%.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

New York’s share of America’s million-dollar earners has fallen more sharply than any other state’s since 2010, raising questions about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s and the Democratic Socialists of America’s proposals to increase taxes on wealthy residents.

A Citizens Budget Committee report found that New York accounted for 12.7% of people earning more than $1 million annually in 2010. That figure has since dropped to 8.7%.

The report also found that in more recent years, New York’s highest earners have left the state at a faster rate than its lowest earners.

The trend could complicate proposals that rely on increased revenue from wealthy taxpayers.

Mamdani campaigned on raising taxes on millionaires by 2%, while the New York City DSA chapter has called for higher taxes on people earning more than $300,000 annually, as well as increased taxes on capital gains and inheritances.

New York already ranks second nationally in the percentage of income collected through taxes, while New York City has the country’s highest tax rates on wealthy residents.

Research cited in connection with the debate has found that tax changes can affect where high earners and other highly paid workers live.

Economists Joshua Rauh and Ryan Shyu found that a California income tax increase caused nearly 1% of top taxable income to leave the state in one year.

The resulting loss of taxpayers and other changes among wealthy residents erased most of the revenue the tax increase otherwise would have generated.

A separate study by Enrico Moretti and Daniel Wilson examined the movement of leading scientists. Their research found that a 1% rise in after-tax income attracted nearly 2% more top scientists to a state, while higher taxes pushed workers in the opposite direction.

New York lost more than $7 billion in annual taxpayer income to Fairfield County, Connecticut, between 2019 and 2023.

The state also lost more than $7 billion to Palm Beach County, Florida.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has dismissed similar concerns about wealthy residents leaving following tax increases.

“The ones that leave? Like, bye,” Wilson said.

The New York figures present a financial challenge for policies dependent on raising additional revenue from a shrinking share of the nation’s highest earners.