NYC Exodus After Mamdani Tax Hike?

Letter to Ephesians: Progressive pols can never grasp the inevitability of the “Tax Hike Death Spiral” their policies trigger. They keep raising taxes to fund ever expanding welfare benefits for their voters, which results in LESS revenue as taxpayers flee; then, they impose more taxes to cover the shortfall …

Silly, of course. WSJ’s Allysia Finley was the latest pundit to point out how the circus act works & zeroed in on Zohran Mamdani’s promise to “tax NYC’s rich” with a new 2% surcharge: “Burden the wealthy too much,” she wrote, “and they flee … That’s how socialists [like Mamdani] run out of other people’s money.” The columnist reminds it was UK’s Margaret Thatcher who first pointed out the fact of life on the world stage.

Closer to home, Finley continued to expound: “Consider California. After revenues plunge during the 2008-09 financial crisis, Democrats rallied voters in 2012 to approve a supposedly temporary tax hike, which added three new income tax brackets & raised the top rate to 13.3% from 10.3%. Several years later, Democrats asked voters to extend the tax hikes through 2030, which they did … the tax hikes thus raised 50% less revenue than expected,” as a mass migration of the wealthy to other tax friendly states ensued. Same thing happened in neighboring Washington. Same ruse is happening in the federal shutdown drama now unfolding as the Democrats take back their promise to “temporarily” expand ObamaCare subsidies until the Covid pandemic passes & demand that taxpayers continue to bail out the failing system … forever. Now, it’s New York’s turn yet again to play the game as Mr. Mamdani’s likely election as Mayor promises a certain financial bloodbath for the city and state as well as another tax base exodus …

Davd Soul