New York’s largest city has some of the most astronomical housing prices in the world, but new data shows that fewer millionaires are actually calling the Empire State home.
In a review of tax data from 2010 to 2015, the Empire Center for Public Policy found that New York falls below the national average of 55.3 percent for millionaire growth. The state had a millionaire growth rate of 40 percent within that five-year period, increasing from 282,311 households reporting an adjusted gross income of $1 million or more to 438,370.
New York ranks 40th in the nation for millionaire growth, while California took the top spot with its 72.2 percent growth rate thanks in part to Silicon Valley. Florida, Texas and Massachusetts also saw “above average” growth between 2010 and 2015.
New York’s 45 percent increase in households reporting an income of $200,000 or more is also below the national average of 58 percent, according to the report.
One culprit of New York’s drop in millionaire growth is due to “non-resident” filers, those who earn some income in the state while living elsewhere for much of the year.
Before you cheer at the idea of fewer one percenters, though, the trend could spell trouble for the state’s economy and wealth creation, study author E.J. McMahon warned, “because New York’s state budget is heavily dependent on revenues generated by its highest-earning taxpayers.”
The state currently has a 29 percent tax on incomes of $1 million or more for an individual and $2 million for couples. This “millionaire’s tax” will continue through 2019.
A Budget Division spokesman debunked the Empire Center’s report, telling the New York Daily News that the state’s economy is growing and it has both more millionaires per capita and added more millionaires since the 2008 recession “than any state but one.”
