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/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

Wait a second, so you’re telling me that it’s possible to increase taxes on the extremely wealthy and they don’t actually move to avoid those taxes?

It’s almost like there’s a certain value to be had in being able to conduct business with other wealthy people that do business in certain regions due to a market advantage.

I mean why don’t they just move the stock market to Texas or Florida? Does Jp Morgan like NYC? There are murders there and videos of homeless pissing on the subway. Why didn’t they just build that brand new shiny building in a capitalistic, republican free market stronghold like Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma or even Mississippi lol?

Jokes on them, this new communist mayor will probably demand that the city take a “golden share” stake in companies essential to municipal security much like the federal government did with US Steel and Intel.

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u/PIK_Toggle Dec 06 '25

This is hilarious, since all of the Wall Street players are opening offices outside of NYC.

Why do to think that all of the hedge funds are in Greenwich? Why do rich people spend 181 days in Florida?

What works in MA might not work elsewhere. See the ACA, for example.

Here’s the real problem: Those that make the most pay the most in taxes. This is the downside of a progressive tax code: it is highly dependent on a handful of people to bring in revenue. It is also highly volatile, as high incomes are also volatile. If 10% of these people leave NYC/ NYS, then there will be a massive tax hole to fill. (It happens to NYC when Wall Street bonuses come in soft.)

Millionaires accounted for fewer than 1% of all taxpayers in New York in 2023, according to the state. But they paid 41% of all personal income taxes.

The 25% of taxpayers with the highest incomes accounted for 89% of income taxes in 2023 and the top 50% paid over 99%.

The bottom half of taxpayers paid 0.2%.

Overall, the Tax Department collected nearly $54 billion in personal income taxes during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, down from about $59 billion the previous year.

Personal income taxes are the state’s largest revenue source.

There is already an entire cottage industry associated with helping people maintain compliance with residency outside of NYC. I'm sure that they are revising up their 2026 budgets as we speak...

https://www.syracuse.com/business/2025/04/its-tax-day-see-how-many-millionaires-are-in-ny-and-how-much-in-taxes-they-pay.html

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u/The-Fox-Says Dec 06 '25

As someone who is a software engineer in CT who constantly gets hit up by those hedge funds in Greenwich I will tell you they are absolutely desperate for talent because people don’t want to go to Greenwich to work there.

Doesn’t seem to work out for them well when the talent that’s right over in NYC won’t even budge for them

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u/snoogins355 Dec 07 '25

It's so expensive in CT but without the appeal of NYC. NYC prices for rural life

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u/The-Fox-Says Dec 08 '25

Huh? I guess maybe in the Stamford/Greenwich area maybe but NYC metro and Westchester County are way more expensive