Color us not surprised.
New York has lost 10 billionaires over just the last four years, with many leaving for the obvious reasons: taxes are too damn high. The move can save "tens of millions" in taxes annually for those moving, according to an exclusive by the NY Post.
The Post noted that 62 New York based billionaires appeared on the Forbes 400 list, compared to 72 in 2019 and 65 in 2022.
The National Tax Foundation’s vice president, Jared Walczak, told the paper: “You have this incredibly high rate imposed on all of the income of the highest earners [in New York], and living just about anywhere else will substantially reduce your tax burden. Going to Florida will obviously eliminate your individual tax burden, and many of these billionaires clearly have that flexibility.”
Josh Harris, an investor and the owner of the Washington Commanders, saw his net worth rise from $5.7 billion to $6.9 billion and has chosen to move to Florida, the report says.
Additionally, in the last four years, other wealthy individuals like hedge fund manager Daniel Och, currently worth $3.6 billion, and investor Carl Icahn, with a net worth of $6.9 billion, have also shifted from New York City to Florida.
The NY Post reported that New York's tax revenue is heavily dependent on its wealthiest 1% of taxpayers, who contribute 42% of the total tax receipts. Billionaires in the state are subject to the highest tax bracket, facing a substantial tax rate of 14.8%.
This year, several former Forbes 400 billionaires from New York dropped off the list, including private equity magnate Scott Shleifer, William and Aerin Lauders of Estee Lauder, and the late investment banker David Gottesman.
The list's youngest entrant from New York is 38-year-old Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm supporting startups like Instagram, Spotify, and Slack. Kushner, with a net worth of $3.6 billion, is the son of Charles Kushner, a former real estate tycoon convicted of various crimes and pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020, the Post report says.
Ken Girardin, the research director for the Albany-based think tank, Empire Center for Public Policy, added: “If you had someone who was earning $100 million [a year] in New York suddenly move to Florida, that’s something like a $11 million-a-year hit per year recurring to the state. And that’s just from one person leaving."
He added: “New York’s reliance on high earners to fund government services means if those high earners stop being created or start moving away, the state’s ability to fund services can be quickly reduced."
“The state’s ability to continually bail out the MTA and to fund New York’s costly public schools both rely on the state continuing to get a big chunk of its taxes from a small group of earners,” he said.
Paging Art Laffer...