To Stave Off New York’s Death Spiral, Cut Taxes

Here’s a crazy idea: New York officials should cut taxes.

Yes, the very idea would offend progressives in charge of our city and our state. But, it may be the only way New York escapes its ongoing death spiral. If high-earning New Yorkers continue to leave, the city’s prospects will get steadily worse. As residents flee, our streets become more dangerous, local businesses fail and tax revenue drops.  

The state’s deficit is blowing up, with the budget gap through 2027 now forecast at a staggering $36.4 billion. Cue the inevitable calls for higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses which, without doubt, will only drive more high earners to move to more welcoming states. 

There is another path: bring people back to New York.

Here’s a heads-up for Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams: New Yorkers, and especially wealthy New Yorkers, do not want to leave the Big Apple. They are being driven out by onerous taxes, an ongoing process that was accelerated by the pandemic and the emergence of remote work. Many would, if the tax burden were lifted, come back in a heartbeat.

As the Palm Beach crowd returned from their requisite 180 days in exile, nearly everyone I visited with was overjoyed at being back in New York. Why? Because these are the folks who feast on theater, dance, the Philharmonic and all the other cultural treasures that the Big Apple offers. 

They are the first through the doors at a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum or Museum of Modern Art; they file respectfully into the 92nd Street Y to attend lectures on disinformation or chats with Chelsea Clinton. 

New York’s liberal elites miss New York. And, they are restless in Palm Beach. That Upper East Sider mecca is beautiful and serene; there are no homeless people heckling you for spare change or empty storefronts reminding you of the Great Manhattan Exodus. 

It is sunny, clean and cheerful. There are great restaurants, including a growing number of iconic Manhattan watering holes like La Goulue, Bilboquet, and Swifty’s that have migrated south with their favored clientele.

Yet, for most displaced New Yorkers, playing golf does not measure up to the stimulating (and often exasperating) smorgasbord of life in the Big Apple. People tell me they are dying to come home, if only the tax burden didn’t make it so expensive to do so.

To read more…… https://www.nysun.com/article/to-stave-off-new-yorks-death-spiral-cut-taxes

Published in The New York Sun