NYCs socialist movement forcing millionaires to flee the state leaving Mamdani, DSA in a bind

Americans are some of the most mobile people on Earth: They move homes about three times more often than ­Europeans. As a recent report shows, that mobility is a problem for New York’s rising socialist movement. A new Citizens Budget Committee report found that New York’s share of millionaires, those earning more than a million dollars a year, declined more than any other state since 2010. The state went from having 12.7% of all millionaires in the nation to 8.7%. Worse yet, in the more recent years, the state’s highest earners have been leaving much faster than its lowest earners. The flight of the millionaires leaves the rising Democratic Socialists of America movement, and Mayor Mamdani in particular, in a bind. On one hand, DSA campaigns have centered around attacking the millionaires and billionaires whom they claim are squeezing working citizens. On the other, the DSA needs those same people to pay exorbitant taxes to fund their social programs. Mamdani in his campaign wanted to raise taxes on millionaires by 2%. The New York City DSA’s chapter suggests the state should raise taxes on those making over $300,000 a year and on capital gains and inheritances as well. Unfortunately, New York has little room to further squeeze the well-off: It already ranks second in the nation in terms of percent of income taken as taxes. New York City’s tax rates on the wealthy are already the highest in the nation. The DSA and its supporters claim that ever-higher taxes won’t force the well-off to move, but the evidence contradicts them.  Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Never miss a story.Economists Joshua Rauh and Ryan Shyu found that a California income-tax hike drove almost 1% of top taxable incomes out of the state in a single year. The loss of taxpayers and other changes among th...