By now you’ve heard that Robert Mueller died, and that Trump said he was glad Mueller was dead. What a clod. See Donald Trump Is Nothing Like Robert Mueller by Jonathan Lemire at The Atlantic.
I also see that the Regime is planning to send ICE agents to airports starting tomorrow to “help” people get through security faster. I haven’t heard what the airlines think of that idea. I’m glad I’m not planning to fly anywhere.
So today’s topic is why the rich won’t leave New York City to avoid paying Mayor Mamdani’s proposed taxes on their wealth. The Right is certain that all the ultra-wealthy are already moving out of NYC to avoid the taxes, and without their tax money the city will collapse, and Mayor Mamdani will fail. They are only too eager to see him fail. Social media is swarming with concern trolls tut-tutting that New Yorkers made a big mistake by electing him, and they’ll be sorry.
But New Yorkers have been through this before. Just about every time there’s any new policy or tax proposal for NYC there are predictions the rich will leave, and take their money with them, but they never do. And now I will explain why.
See Rich New Yorkers Threaten to Leave. Then They Find Out How Hard That Is. by Matthew Haag in the New York Times, published in December.
In brief, New York has some unique tax laws. It isn’t good enough to buy another home in Miami, declare it to be your primary residence, and even spend more than half the year there. If you keep your New York City residence and are there for any time at all, New York tax auditors will still come after you with tax bills. And they’ll probably win. Further, even if you’re never in New York City, if you are receiving earned income from a New York City business you still owe New York City taxes.
This is a fact of life for New Yorkers. When you file state taxes, you have to check boxes declaring you earned income in either New York City or Yonkers. If you do you have to declare that income and pay NYC or Yonkers taxes, even if you don’t live in NYC or Yonkers.
From the article:
For decades in New York City, pundits, business leaders and the uber-wealthy have warned of a looming exodus among its richest residents — driven, they claim, by the city’s progressive politics or the suggestion of tax increases. …
… But it’s one thing to threaten to leave. It’s another to follow through.
According to tax lawyers and financial planners who advise the city’s upper echelon, many wealthy New Yorkers who want to avoid taxes by moving are often unwilling to go to the lengths required to pass auditors’ scrutiny.
Their lives are deeply woven into the city, where they have networks of family, friends, medical care and social activities, and those ties would have to be significantly curtailed or severed entirely. Moving would uproot not just their lives but also those of their family members, including children, who would have to be enrolled in new schools.
Kenneth T. Zemsky, a tax lawyer whose clients have included Martha Stewart, said that in his decades of practice, for every 10 people who have inquired about leaving New York, about one has ended up actually doing so.
If you are wealthy and try to claim you moved out of state, “Auditors demand reams of information — cellphone records, credit card receipts, E-Z Pass logs, diary entries — that could support or disprove a change-of-residency claim.” If you still have significant ties to NYC, the tax auditors will probably decide you still owe New York City taxes. They will even check out your new out of state residence to find out if it’s more modest than your NYC one, which they consider a red flag.
So while hand-wringers on Fox News may be declaring that the wealthy have already cleared out of the city, few actual NYC residents believe it. There is as yet no indication from the real estate people that the wealthy are selling their New York City homes, which they would probably have to do to avoid the tax.
Elsewhere: Scott Bessent says the administration doesn’t really need the extra $2 billion it’s asking for to fight in Iran.
then why you asking for 200 billion more
— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) March 22, 2026 at 12:01 PM
So, it's not just me who has an image of Scott Bessent on his dartboard. After reading the comments, he seems to be revolting to a multitude.
Just where do they find all these stupid assholes???
Oh yes at Claremont College.
Iran
"There has not been and is not any negotiation underway, and with this type of psychological warfare, neither will the Strait of Hormuz return to its pre-war conditions, nor will there be in the energy markets,” the official added.
There was a lot of truth in that line in Crazy Rich Asians, rich people really like free stuff. They want NYC for its amenities, but they don't want to pay for it. They want California as a hot bed of innovation, but they don't want to pay for it. They want the United States for it's rule of law, educated population and so on, but they don't want to pay for it. The rich are basically those people, the one's walking out of the CVS without paying for their shampoo.
If they’re going, let them all go from The Astor, my dream building. If enough of them leave, just maybe I can get a studio or a junior one bedroom.