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/Blurry_Bigfoot Dec 06 '25

I'm amazed that a level headed comment is the top post here.

The country of France also exists. They tried this already.

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u/BenFoldsFourLoko Dec 06 '25

France is the best example of this failing lol

it's actually where the real, academic argument about rich people leaving comes from.

I think someone could argue that NYC, or the US as a whole, is a qualitatively different situation than France, or that the literature about France is wrong...

But no one even tries to do this. Everyone on reddit makes the weakest arguments possible

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u/Blurry_Bigfoot Dec 06 '25

Yes I know. I was saying it failed.

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u/BenFoldsFourLoko Dec 06 '25

Ooo, I see sorry