Opinion: Millionaires must pay their fair share to ensure NYC’s affordability

Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a sensible path through the next fiscal year that tackles a number of pressing cost of living needs for New Yorkers while accounting for constant uncertainty from the Trump White House. But it’s a short-term fix for an age-old problem. New York City’s affordability crisis didn’t start because of Washington politics, although recent events have certainly worsened it. This is a generational crisis lived every day by families juggling rent, transportation, childcare and the rising costs of just about everything under Lady Liberty’s torch.  

So Hochul’s proposal to expand 3-K and fund the first two years of 2-Care is welcome and important. Affordable child care is among the biggest concerns for working families, and mounting research shows these escalating costs are a key factor for families with children under 6 to not just scale back, but to leave NYC altogether at a rate 40% higher than families with school-aged children.

That is an immediate crisis, and it won’t go away in two years. Parents need to be able to build their lives around services they can rely on, not those that have to be renegotiated based on the prevailing politics. Child care is important enough that it should be assured as a long-term investment, even baselined, not constantly kicked down the road.

That’s why we need the Fair Share Act, legislation we introduced that would authorize New York City to enact a modest 2% surcharge on incomes over $1 million. Importantly, this measure would not apply to the first million, but only to incomes above that threshold. For example, if an individual makes $1.5 million, only the $500,000 above $1 million would be subject to the surcharge.

It’s entirely fair and appropriate to ask the highest income earners, who just received a permanent 2.6% tax cut courtesy of President Donald Trump, to help generate the revenue needed to strengthen our economy and not leave working New Yorkers behind. This is, quite literally, a matter of fairness and fiscal responsibility. 

There’s plenty of precedent for such pragmatic revenue generators. In 2023, Massachusetts implemented a “Fair Share Amendment” that raised $2.2 billion in its first year alone to fund key public infrastructure improvements in education and transportation. Naturally, critics sounded the alarm that millionaires would flee the state in droves if it passed. Not only did that not occur, but the number of millionaires in the state actually increased.  

The billions of dollars raised by the Fair Share Act would extend well beyond child care toward any number of critical infrastructure and service needs – including affordable housing, free transit and even building out new classroom space.

The city’s income tax system is essentially flat, so a family earning $50,000 and an individual earning $5 million pay nearly the same local income tax rate. That cannot continue. The city will not remain livable if we continue treating working families and multimillionaires as equals.

Like Massachusetts, critics will predict a millionaire flight should we dare charge a higher income tax on this small percentage of the wealthiest New Yorkers. It’s a common refrain that is often debunked, but opponents claim it is already happening.

In fact, evidence shows millionaires aren’t leaving New York City, and anyone who loves this city can tell you why. For those who can afford it, NYC will never stop providing unlimited opportunity, talent and connectivity. Even if, for the sake of argument, some of our wealthy residents do leave, as so many doomsday soothsayers continue to prophesize, New York’s economic foundation would remain ironclad. Wall Street isn’t going anywhere. It is still firmly rooted in the Financial District, just as it has been since the late 18th century when traders gathered there under a buttonwood tree to lay the foundation of our financial system.

New York is the gateway to the world, and that will always attract ambition, talent, creativity and families who want to be here and build their future in the greatest city in the world. The Fair Share Act will help keep that dream alive for everyone who calls it home.