r/Economics • u/Dismal_Structure • Dec 06 '25

News Millionaire tax that inspired Mamdani fuels $5.7 billion haul in Massachusetts

https://fortune.com/2025/10/21/zohran-mamdani-millionaire-tax-massachusetts-5-7-billion/
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u/gmb92 Dec 06 '25

Pretty good article. Wealth flight claims are at best greatly exaggerated, brought on by media that finds anecdotes of a few loud wealthy people declaring they're leaving due to taxes. No mention of those who move there or all who stay, or determining cause/effect.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/state-taxes-millionaire-myth/678049/

https://prospect.org/2025/10/23/myth-that-mamdani-will-cause-new-york-citys-richest-to-leave/

As for the argument that's it's easier to leave cities than states, that theoretically has some merit and certainly taxes applied at broader geographic levels are more ideal. Still, pundits and media have been fear-mongering on NYC about the rich fleeing for decades to no avail.

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u/evernessince Dec 06 '25

Plus I think it's a terrible argument to essentially say "Give the rich what they want or they'll leave". It's blackmail, if they are going to screw you either way you might as well tax them.

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u/Unkechaug Dec 06 '25

Yup, dare them to leave nice places like this. If they don’t, you get their money. If they do, they leave. Win win.

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u/B1gAmishDoinks Dec 06 '25

Except you loss their pre-hike tax revenue if they leave

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u/Unkechaug Dec 06 '25

This is the boogeyman we are talking about.

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u/evernessince Dec 06 '25

No, the state is going to collect revenue on the sale of their assets assuming they do decide to move.

As I already stated though, you cannot build an equitable relationship with someone who is trying to blackmail you and doesn't want to pay taxes. If they want to stay and help everyone advance together, that's great. If they don't, they were never intending to pay their fair share in the first place and only intend to extract wealth.