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New York is Taxing the Rich and Wall Street Already Left

26 Jul 2026 · 3 min

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2:48

In this commentary, the speaker critiques New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ recent tax proposals, which combine a yearly fee on second homes valued over $5 million and a planned increase in the city income tax for residents earning more than $1 million—from 3.88 % to 5.88 % (a 2‑percentage‑point rise). The mayor frames the income‑tax hike as a modest 2 % increase, but the speaker explains that this translates to a 52 % jump in tax liability for top earners. The analysis draws a parallel to California’s 2012 “temporary” tax increase on high earners, which resulted in a 45 % shortfall in the first year and 61 % by the second, largely due to compensation restructuring rather than taxpayer exodus. The speaker highlights that Wall Street is already reacting: hedge‑fund billionaire Ken Griffin moved Citadel’s headquarters to Miami in 2022, and Citadel Securities—responsible for about a quarter of U.S. stock trades—has been pivoting toward crypto infrastructure, collaborating on exchanges with Fidelity and Schwab. Florida’s crypto‑friendly policies (zero income tax, state Bitcoin reserve) further entice financial firms. The speaker warns that the mayor’s strategy, which relies on taxing high‑value properties to gain popular support, may backfire by accelerating the departure of the city’s financial “plumbing,” potentially pushing the share of income tax paid by the top 34,000 households from 40 % to over 60 %. The upcoming state budget on April 1, 2027 will reveal the real fiscal impact, and the commentator pledges to monitor receipts.

Chapters

The mayor of New York walks up to the most expensive home ever sold in America, Ken Griffin's $238 million penthouse, looks into the camera and says, well, today we're taxing the rich. That video got 52 million views, and this is why it's way bigger than one tax. You need to listen. New York is squeezing Wall Street at the exact moment banks are adopting crypto, and the most crypto-friendly state in America is holding their door open. The backstory and details are very important. What he actually passed is a second home tax, a yearly fee on $5 million-plus homes whose owners don't actually live in New York. But there's a real plan, which is raising the city income tax on anyone earning over $1 million a year from 3.88% to 5.88%. Plus, he has a big corporate tax hike. So far, the state government, which actually controls these taxes, told him no. But you need to understand how he sells it because it's deceiving. A 2% tax increase is actually 2 percentage points. Top earners pay the city $38,800 on every million today. His plan gets them to $58,800. That's a 52% jump. He's calling it a 2% for publicity's sake. And the crazy part about this is that it doesn't even work. California ran the exact same play in 2012. 3 points on top earners sold as temporary. Then we had Stanford going through the actual returns and numbers, and they reported that 45% of the expected money vanished in year 1. 61% by year 2. And it wasn't the people who left. The money disappeared from the people who stayed. They finessed it. They don't want to pay taxes. They basically delayed bonuses. They gave people stocks instead of cash. The winners sold a year later. All legal, right? And some people actually went to Florida. And here's the part that the mayor is not anticipating at all. Ken Griffin already moved Citadel's headquarters to Miami in 2022, and his $6 billion Manhattan tower is being reassessed. And Citadel isn't just a hedge fund. Citadel Securities handles about 1 in 4 US stock trades in America. That's the market plumbing, and the plumbing is going crypto. We know this. His firm helped launch a crypto exchange with Fidelity and Schwab. Banks are rolling out stablecoins and tokenized funds, and America's friendliest crypto laws are in Florida. Zero income tax, even a state Bitcoin reserve bill. When the pipes of finance can't move, the financial capital of the world moves with them. He thinks that he's taxing a penthouse to win people's approval so he can get more votes, but really what he's doing is he's declaring war against the financial plumbing of the world. 34,000 households pay 40% of the city's income tax. His plan will push it past 60%. He's betting that the people with the most options and the most resources and money are just going to sit still. April 1st, 2027, the next state budget is where we find everything out, and I'm tracking every receipt. Let's make some money.