While some New Yorkers see their fortunes rise, most aren’t getting a cut, as the cost of food, rent, and other necessities climbs faster than their salaries can keep up. City Comptroller Mark Levine released a report this month confirming what many already suspected: the rich are getting richer fast, and the rest of the city is struggling to break even.

From 2019 to 2024, the bottom 90% of New Yorkers saw their incomes barely keep up with inflation, while two-thirds of real income growth flowed to the top 1%. As Levine put it, “New York City is generating enormous wealth, but the vast majority of that prosperity is flowing to those who already have the most.”

Lawmakers don’t need to worry about maintaining “competitive” tax rates for the rich — Levine’s report proves that they’re already thriving here. Instead, they should focus on raising the tax revenue we need to invest in affordability for everyone else.

Although some have argued that higher taxes on the rich will drive them out, research shows that millionaires don’t usually move because of higher taxes. In fact, after New York City raised its top marginal tax rate in 2021, the millionaire population increased.

As any New Yorker knows, there are countless reasons to live and work here: excellent public transportation, Broadway, bagels, world-class museums, something new around every corner. Those amenities come from a city government that invests in making this a good place to live, not from low taxes.

Similarly, we don’t need to worry about corporations fleeing if we raise their taxes. Since corporate taxes are based on sales, not headquarters, it makes no sense for a company to move due to a corporate tax increase. And as tax policy expert Zorka Milin put it recently for the Roosevelt Institute, “tax is just one factor among many others that are much more important,” including access to capital and a skilled workforce — both of which New York has in spades.

In fact, the states with the most progressive taxes — including New York — also have the most millionaires and corporations per capita. That’s because progressive taxes produce the strong economies, infrastructure, and public services that attract (and generate) millionaires and successful businesses.

There are plenty of options to raise taxes on the rich and big corporations. The city’s new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes, which is expected to raise $500 million and help balance this year’s budget, is a meaningful first step. But for long-term revenue stability, the pied-à-terre tax won’t be enough.

Fortunately, city and state policymakers have proposed several additional ways to tax our wealthiest residents to provide steady revenue and help fund programs like universal childcare. One option is an additional 2% income tax on those who earn more than $1 million a year — just 0.7% of the population — which could raise $3 billion annually.

Other options would tax the non-wage income, such as capital gains and business income, that overwhelmingly flows to the wealthiest and has driven much of the growth at the top. These could include a higher corporate tax rate and taxes on investment income for high earners. All of these, and more, should be considered in the next budget cycle.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest residents and businesses won’t drive them away. But without funding for affordable housing, childcare, groceries, transportation, and other necessities, the economy that brought them here will suffer, and the other 99% of the city will fall further behind.

It’s time to stop worrying about the people who’ve already pulled away from the pack, and start worrying about the people who really are moving: working- and middle-class New Yorkers who can’t afford a city they love. New York needs all of us, not just millionaires.

Rosinplotz is a senior research associate at the Roosevelt Institute.