It’s one of Albany’s perennial debates — whether or not heavy taxes on the state’s highest earners is forcing them to flee to places like Florida. 

While there is anecdotal evidence this is taking place, there isn’t definitive data. Yet it’s one of the reasons cited by Gov. Kathy Hochul for not raising taxes on the wealthy this year.  

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also recently said that the city is “hemorrhaging” high-income earners.  

But a group of liberal state senators, including Robert Jackson, Jabari Brisport, Jessica Ramos and Gustavo Rivera, argue that the wealthy are not leaving New York because of taxes, and that the city’s crop of billionaires is actually growing richer.  

The four have introduced bills that would tax the wealthy in various ways, including creating a higher personal income tax rate and imposing additional income taxes on long-term capital gains. 

The bills are part of a campaign called "Invest in Our New York."

“The needs are great,” Sen. Robert Jackson told Capital Tonight when asked why more revenue is needed. “New Yorkers are in great need as far as food to eat, as far as housing, the homeless population, all over the state of New York; as far as healthcare, as far as environment, as far as jobs.”

While there are no definitive answers regarding why New York lost population over the past few years, data from the New York City Independent Budget Office indicates that between 2019 and 2020, the number of New Yorkers earning over $750,000 fell by 10%. 

Jackson said those numbers don’t concern him.

“We’re talking about the super wealthy ones that are earning the money off the backs of New Yorkers that are working,” he said, not the people who earn between $750,000 and $1 million per year.

In a recent New York Daily News op-ed, Sens. Jackson and Ramos argued that the state’s “125 billionaires got a lot richer over the last few years." When asked if additional taxation could “kill the golden goose," the senator again said no.

“Were only asking from a position of strength,” he said. “We’re a family. When you talk about a family you help your family members. This is about survival.”

Jackson also pointed to the possible upcoming recession that Gov. Kathy Hochul mentioned in her budget address this week.

“People say we’ll be hitting a recession coming up. So we need those who have enough and can give, to give --  the top 5%, that’s all,” he said.