Progressives’ War on NY’s Tax Base

Anew city analysis shows that a huge chunk of high-income earners fled in 2020. Yet progressives refuse to hear the alarm bell: They’re pushing to “tax the rich” yet again instead.

The study by the city’s Independent Budget Office shows a 10% plunge in taxpayers who made over $750,000, and 6% of those with incomes between $150,000 and $750,000. These now-former New Yorkers will no longer pay hefty taxes to the city or state, leaving significantly less revenue to fund progressives’ pet projects.

Yet the radicals who increasingly dominate local politics want to slam those who haven’t left even more: Last Monday, a group of advocates and electeds launched a campaign for a ludicrous $40 billion in new taxes on the rich. “Everybody always worries about whether billionaires and the wealthy are going to get up and leave from New York,” huffed Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos.

Huh? The top 1% of taxpayers accounted for 45% of the city’s income-tax take in 2020.

Sure, other factors (like the weather and the lockdown) also pushed them to split: As The Post has reported, Manhattanites who moved to sunny Palm Beach County, Fla., earned an average $728,351 each.

Some returned post-pandemic. But the mass exodus came before progressives spiked state taxes by $4 billion in 2021, punishing mostly top-income New Yorkers with the nation’s highest state and local tax rate.

Losing more tax revenue from top earners will only add to the massive budget gaps both the city and state face in coming years, which already threaten cuts to core services.

New York needs to stop driving away its tax base before there’s nothing left to bleed.