More than 700 millionaires fled New York in the first year of the pandemic ... trends now
New York has lost a weighty proportion of its millionaires in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, new data from the Internal Revenue Service shows.
Statistics reviewed by EJ McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy will likely ramp up the ongoing debate about New York's relative tax unfriendly status, particularly as it pertains to high-income individuals.
McMahon claimed the data showed a 1.3 percent decline in the number of New Yorkers with adjusted gross annual income of more than $1million.
It comes as woke states such as New York and California see a mass exodus amid surging house prices and rampaging crime.
New York state is shedding million-dollar earners as one-time Empire state residents flee to more tax-friendly environments
NYC Mayor Eric Adams has said he would like to keep the top earners in the Big Apple, but has not proposed any policies that would offer an incentive for them to stay
The precise figure fell from 54,370 to 55,100 - 730 individuals, while the national number climbed from 554,340 to 608,549 - a nearly 10 percent jump.
Taxes are likely not the only reason wealthy New Yorkers fled the empire state during COVID, but it is at least a formidable one and not something that should be ignored by the state government, said McMahon.
'It's preposterous to deny that it isn't one of the key determinants,' he told the Union-Sun & Journal. 'And it's the variable that the state government controls.'
In 2010, he said, New York state had 12.7 percent of the nation's income millionaires.
That was the year elected officials the infamous millionaire's tax, which was supposed to be a temporary higher tax rate on those making more than one million dollars.
Those taxes only went up during the years when Andrew Cuomo governed the state, and have not been lowered since his administration came to an abrupt end driven by a report about Cuomo's pattern of sexually harassing the women in his orbit.
By 2019, the state's share of million-dollar earners had dipped below 10 percent and fell against in 2020 to 8.9 percent.
This $150million Hamptons residence has been on the market for years without selling - the owner says she prefers to summer outside of New York
These stunning properties are precisely where a million dollar earners may live with their families before opting to leave for better tax environments
Fewer top earners in New York state mean more unfilled $250 million penthouse apartments in Manhattan - like this one in the iconic Central Park Tower
One Democratic leader, however, who says he is trying to keep the country's wealthy in New York, is Mayor Eric Adams.
At a recent breakfast of corporate leaders, Adams said he was tired of the 'tax the rich' policies favored by the progressive wing of his party.
'It blows my mind when I hear, 'So what if they leave?' No, you leave!' he thundered. 'I want my high income earners right here.'
Adams has not, at this time, proposed a plan to lower taxes on wealthy - or any - New Yorkers.
According to new Census Bureau data, New York experienced the largest population decline of any US state this year - losing 0.9 percent of its residents.
Tax and crime-heavy California also shed hundreds of thousands of residents.
