Billionaires said they'd leave

Jeff Bezos left Washington state for Florida. Howard Schultz moved from Seattle to Miami as Washington advanced a nine point nine percent tax on income over one million dollars. Google cofounders and other tech leaders also left California.

The data tells a different story

According to a Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of IRS data, states with the most progressive tax systems have the highest concentration of millionaires per filer in the country. The number of millionaires in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington D.C. has grown since two thousand ten.

New York's millionaires keep rising

New York's millionaire share rose again in two thousand twenty-three, the most recent year of data available, even after the state raised its rate on incomes over one million in two thousand twenty-one. Florida saw a notable decline in its millionaire share that same year.

Millionaires aren't sensitive to taxes

Emily Eisner, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said millionaire households simply aren't that sensitive to tax rates because for them the taxes aren't really high enough for them to be sensitive to them.

“the taxes aren't really high enough for them to be sensitive to them”

The squeeze hits the middle class

The tax burden falls hardest on families earning between one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand dollars a year. Eisner said it's tough living in New York City where you're making a lot of money but don't feel rich at all and still feel squeezed.

“It's tough living in New York City”

New York's millionaire count jumped

In two thousand sixteen, New York counted fifty-seven thousand one hundred twenty-six million-dollar earners. By two thousand nineteen that grew to sixty-eight thousand sixty-eight. In two thousand twenty-one, when the state raised taxes on those earning over one million, the count jumped twenty-one percent to eighty-four thousand three hundred sixty-six.

California's tax increase didn't drive exodus

Ahead of California's two thousand twelve vote to raise its top rate to thirteen point three percent, opponents said the rich were already packing. A Stanford-led study found about one hundred thirty-eight high-net-worth Californians left in the year after the tax passed, just zero point zero four percent of the three hundred twelve thousand subject to it.

Citadel stayed despite tax threats

In New York this year after the city unveiled a pied-à-terre tax, Ken Griffin's Citadel initially hinted it might abandon its planned six billion dollar Park Avenue office tower. By August, Citadel confirmed it was staying, with demolition already underway at the tower site.

Flat tax advocates claim growth boost

A Cato Institute briefing paper found that states converting from graduated to flat income tax systems saw roughly one percentage point faster per capita income and GDP growth for five to seven years after the reform, or nearly four thousand dollars more income per resident. The results are insignificant after year ten.