NYCs elites are tired of being painted as the enemy by Mamdani and his ilk

A friend of mine who runs a big finance-related firm here in New York City is scouting for new digs in Miami — not only for office space but also a house — and it’s not just about the taxes. This fella, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is a name-brand financial type.He’ll make headlines if he decides to bolt.

He employs plenty of people — from highly compensated executives to middle-class support staff.They all pay their taxes in addition to their mortgages and grocery bills.

They drop plenty of cash at the Big Apple’s restaurants and theaters.The higher-ups are big donors to local charities, the museums and the opera. He says he hasn’t made up his mind just yet but based on the tenor of our conversation, he has at least one foot out the proverbial door.

He’s serious. What is crystal clear — and this is true of many of the business types I have spoken to who have packed up and left Gotham — is that this isn’t about paying a few more dollars a year in taxes. They would have no problem if it funded good schools, or more policing or better roads and bridges.It doesn’t, of course.

Most of all, they’re sick of being portrayed as the enemy by feckless public officials. Foremost among the latter is our socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who would like you to believe that rich people are at fault for our affordability crisis because they drive up rents when they buy penthouses.Or maybe it’s simply because they are the enemy in his version of Mao’s Little Red Book. His solution is to milk them with a vast expansion of the welfare state.

He wants the rich “paying their fair share” of taxes, failing to note they already shoulder the brunt of the highest combined city and state income tax rate in the country. Of course, he leaves out the fact that it’s the rich, the aspiring rich and the middle class that have always paid for big government here.Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox ever...