New York Taxes Drive Out Billionaires - And Their Tax Revenue

That is tens of millions of dollars every year in tax revenue. Wait a couple of years and you have 100 million dollars. New York loses 10 billionaires in four years as magnates flee for Florida

New York State: Let's tax the shit of the rich!

The Rich: See Ya!

Billionaires probably already own property in other places.

“You have this incredibly high rate imposed on all of the income of the highest earners [in New York], and living just about anywhere else will substantially reduce your tax burden. Going to Florida will obviously eliminate your individual tax burden, and many of these billionaires clearly have that flexibility,” the National Tax Foundation’s vice president, Jared Walczak, explained.

And it isn't really just the billionaires, though they do make for catchy - dare I say "click bait" - headlines. Hey, if it is good enough for the NY Post, I can use it too!

New York relies on the top 1% of taxpayers to pay for 42% of its tax receipts, and billionaires’ incomes are taxed at the state’s highest rate — a staggering 14.8%, according to Walczak.

And they don't have to go to Florida. That 14.8% is high even by the standards of blue states. And you don't have to be a billionaire to be free to move. Actually the billionaires are in the best position to ignore that inconvenience. Other people who are not billionaires, or even millionaires, and more likely to do those calculations.

They are saying that this exodus is a “significant” threat to being able to pay for government. Well maybe the people farther down on the income scale need to "pay their fair share," or maybe New York needs to reevaluate where it spends money, like subsidizing NYC's transit bureau, the MTA.

I don't expect the exodus to slow any time soon. After all, crime is not making NYC a nicer place to live than it was 20 years ago.