Escape From New York? City Tax Data Shows 2020 Drop in High Earners
Independent Budget Office finds 10% fewer tax filers earned above $750K in the pandemic’s first year.
This article was originally published on by THE CITY
New York City’s economy survived the pandemic shutdown in 2020 because an unprecedented increase in jobless benefits buoyed households. The city avoided a fiscal crisis because a surge in capital gains for the richest taxpayers bolstered income tax collections.
But the income and tax liability data released by the city Independent Budget Office (IBO) Tuesday also revealed some darker news: the number of New Yorkers making between $150,000 and $750,000 declined by almost 6% between 2019 and 2020 — and the number of those making more than $750,000 dropped by almost 10%.
The loss of high-income taxpayers coincided with the worst of COVID. Whether it also indicates a flight from New York by high-income individuals moving to escape New York’s highest-in-the-nation tax rate remains a source of great controversy.