3 ms·

On the other hand, without the billionaires and millionaires crowding into manhattan, it might give ordinary people a shot at ever owning property in New York.

On the other hand, without the billionaires and millionaires crowding into manhattan, it might give ordinary people a shot at ever owning property in New York. Unless you're in a cushy rent-protected situation, all the municipal services in the world don't mean jack when you get kicked out because you can't afford it. And manhattan stopped being affordable a long time ago, with large parts of the other boroughs well under way to the same.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago
> Unless you're in a cushy rent-protected situation, all the municipal services in the world don't mean jack We can’t afford the our affordable housing program without a quarter of our budget. And if you think homeless services “don’t mean jack” in a city that freezes in the winter, you’re asking for a humanitarian crisis. De Blasio is an idiot trying to stay relevant by tweeting obnoxious drivel.
- aravindet 6y ago
  The article seems written to to obscure this, but local income taxes on those earning more than $10 million a year contribute 5% of the city's tax base, not 25%. It's 25% of local income tax collections, but the city collects other forms of tax. From the numbers on households earning $500k, it looks like local income taxes are around 20% of city tax collections. I would assume that the city has sources of revenue other than taxes. If so the contribution of the 10M+ households to the city budget would be less than 5%. Overall I don't think the overall thesis of the article - that NYC will be in crisis if all the ultra rich move away - is supported by the (few) facts contained in it. Not to mention the absurd premise that 100% of the ultra rich would move out of NYC if the policy proposal being attacked in article comes to pass.
  - Arnt 6y ago
    The city has many other sources of revenue, but 5% is difficult to replace. If you wanted to replace those 5% by raising taxes on those >$500k households, you'd have to increase those people's tax bills by a quarter, which is enough to provoke strong protest. If you wanted to lower the threshold from $%00k until you have half the tax base, that richest part would see a 10% rise. 10% is also enough to make people really unhappy, and a protest by half the people in the city is tricky.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago

> Unless you're in a cushy rent-protected situation, all the municipal services in the world don't mean jack We can’t afford the our affordable housing program without a quarter of our budget. And if you think homeless services “don’t mean jack” in a city that freezes in the winter, you’re asking for a humanitarian crisis. De Blasio is an idiot trying to stay relevant by tweeting obnoxious drivel.

aravindet 6y ago
The article seems written to to obscure this, but local income taxes on those earning more than $10 million a year contribute 5% of the city's tax base, not 25%. It's 25% of local income tax collections, but the city collects other forms of tax. From the numbers on households earning $500k, it looks like local income taxes are around 20% of city tax collections. I would assume that the city has sources of revenue other than taxes. If so the contribution of the 10M+ households to the city budget would be less than 5%. Overall I don't think the overall thesis of the article - that NYC will be in crisis if all the ultra rich move away - is supported by the (few) facts contained in it. Not to mention the absurd premise that 100% of the ultra rich would move out of NYC if the policy proposal being attacked in article comes to pass.
- Arnt 6y ago
  The city has many other sources of revenue, but 5% is difficult to replace. If you wanted to replace those 5% by raising taxes on those >$500k households, you'd have to increase those people's tax bills by a quarter, which is enough to provoke strong protest. If you wanted to lower the threshold from $%00k until you have half the tax base, that richest part would see a 10% rise. 10% is also enough to make people really unhappy, and a protest by half the people in the city is tricky.