Wealthy Americans are continuing to flee high-tax states, with New York City paying the price. Manhattan led the nation in new tax filers between 2022 and 2023, but it still lost roughly $922 million in adjusted gross income as high-income taxpayers departed and were replaced by lower-earning newcomers.

Migration Patterns

The migration of high-income taxpayers is becoming more than a demographic trend — it’s a political and fiscal test for governors and state lawmakers. Wealthy households contribute a disproportionate share of income tax revenue in states with progressive tax systems, making the size and composition of a state’s tax base critical to funding schools, infrastructure, and other public services.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, Queens County lost 17,109 tax filers to interstate migration between 2022 and 2023, the second-largest net loss in the nation, while the Bronx lost 16,319. Suffolk County and Nassau County also ranked among the 10 counties with the biggest outflows.

Many of the taxpayers leaving New York have relocated to lower-tax states such as Florida and Texas, which have been among the biggest beneficiaries of interstate migration in recent years and are conversely run by Republicans.

E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital, ‘It’s very, very clear that people ultimately vote with their feet, and when they feel like they’re getting taxed too much, they go somewhere else where they will be taxed less.’

Implications for State Finances

The migration carries significant implications for state finances. High-income earners account for a disproportionate share of state income tax collections, meaning the loss of relatively few wealthy households can have an outsized effect on government revenues.

Manhattan’s experience underscores why economists increasingly focus on income migration rather than population migration alone. Although the most densely populated borough attracted more tax filers than any county in the nation, the loss of higher-income households produced one of the country’s largest declines in adjusted gross income.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.