New York leaders are trying to stop the outflow of wealth as Dems push for tax hikes
New York’s leaders, including Mayor Zoran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul, are facing a massive exodus of wealth as the Democratic Alliance’s tax policies expand. Scott Singer, former Mayor of Boca Raton, Florida, points out that high taxes in New York are causing job creators and capital to flee to states like Florida, where economic growth is more important than punitive taxes.
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to promote policies targeting wealthy executives, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is reminding billionaires that everything is great in Texas – including economic opportunity.
Abbott is positioning his state as a refuge from the liberal ways that Republicans are concerned with driving businesses out of the Empire State.
In New York, the stakes are high: even a small exodus of firms and high earners could drain tax revenue and change the city’s role as a global financial center. In Texas, immigration can mean more jobs, investment and economic power.
Against this backdrop, Abbott’s office is making an aggressive case for the move.
“Governor Abbott is proud to welcome businesses and job creators from across the country to Texas, where we have no federal income tax, sound regulations, and an environment that encourages free business growth,” the governor’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News Digital.
TAX FIGHT PUT CALIFORNIA INTO CRASH AS BILLIONAIRES LEAVE PURPLE STATES
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (left), a Republican, is creating an offramp for New York businesses fleeing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (right) new policies. (Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images; Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Mahaleris offered insight into Abbott’s business philosophy, saying “punitive policies that target successful entrepreneurs who create jobs accelerate the trend of companies choosing Texas.”
Abbott has made attracting out-of-state business a cornerstone of his economic strategy, a point that has paid off as Texas continues to attract firms and executives from high-tax states. Just last week, Dell Technologies announced the unanimous decision of its board to change the company’s official home from the blue state of Delaware to the Lone Star State.
Abbott celebrated the decision in an X post, saying, “Welcome home, @Dell” and “This is what happens when job creators and innovators are welcomed, not punished.”
The governor noted that “more businesses are sure to follow.”
That kind of growth is important in politics. It shows a rising standard of living, a strong tax base and a greater ability to fund infrastructure, education and other essentials without raising taxes.
And the results are visible in the data.
Texas’ economic output per capita jumped more than 10% from 2021 to 2024, according to federal data. Meanwhile, liberal states like California saw much smaller gains over the same period.
Abbott is counting on that growth as he works to lure firms and capital away from states like New York.
FROM BUSES TO CITY FOOD SHOPS, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S TOP ECONOMIC PROMISES
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott during a news conference. (Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman)
Concerns have led to mass exodus in left-leaning cities and provinces have been exposed by a high-profile conflict between Mamdani and billionaire Ken Griffin, who heads Citadel, one of the world’s most powerful hedge companies.
The controversy was sparked by a video broadcast on April 15 in which Mamdani proposed higher taxes on non-primary homes worth more than $5 million in New York City. He singled out Griffin’s record-breaking $238 million Manhattan penthouse and photographed the exterior of the 24,000-square-foot Central Park South property.
Mamdani pointed to the unit as an example of luxury second homes that would face additional annual costs under his proposal.
Griffin later blasted the video as “shocking and strange,” saying at the Milken Institute Global conference on May 6 that he watched it many times. He also said that Citadel is also revising its planned $6 billion Manhattan office tower, while continuing to grow in the red state of Florida, which he called “undoubtedly” the right choice.
Mamdani has backed a list of progressive proposals, including higher taxes on high-value properties, expanded renter protections and measures aimed at curbing wealth inequality in the city.
CHICAGO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KEN GRIFFIN LIGHTS UP THE CITY, THE PEOPLE CAN GET
The founder of Citadel is clashing with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over taxes targeting the super-rich and rampant crime, renewing the same feud that forced him to pull his business and billionaires from Chicago. (Spencer Platt/Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The conflict is common ground for Griffin, who has long warned that policies aimed at the super-rich and rising crime could drive business out of big cities. That concern prompted him to move Citadel’s global headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022highlighting how quickly jobs, investment and impact can follow.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
In Chicago, Griffin’s move led to a sharp erosion of one of its most prominent anchors – shrinking offices, moving workers and the departure of a billionaire who once poured hundreds of millions into city institutions and politics. It also meant fewer high-paying financial jobs in the city and the disappearance of a major social and cultural asset.
A similar scenario could play out in New York City, home to nearly 9 million people and the world’s financial capital, where the loss of firms and high earners could cost jobs, drain tax revenue and shake the economy.
In the nation’s largest city and the world’s financial center, the outcome of Mamdani’s proposals will shape not only the future of New York’s real estate market, but also broader debates about regulations, taxation and city policy.
