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Why New York City Needs Its Billionaires

  • Joseph Hernandez
  • Aug 7
  • 2 min read
NYC Billionaires

New York City is home to 129 billionaires—more than any other city in the world—and over 340,000 millionaires, also more than any city in the world. These individuals didn’t win the lottery. Most built their wealth through grit, innovation, and relentless work. They founded companies like Bloomberg LP, Estee Lauder, and Blackstone—firms that now employ hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and power our economy.


Together, they contribute an outsized share of our city’s finances: the top 1% of earners pay nearly half of all income taxes collected in New York City. Those dollars fund our schools, our transit systems, our sanitation, our hospitals. Remove that support, and our budget—and basic services—would collapse.


But the value they bring goes far beyond tax receipts. These are the same individuals and families who fund the cultural institutions that define life in New York. From the Met and Lincoln Center to the New York Public Library and Mount Sinai Hospital, the generosity of New York’s billionaires touches every borough and every resident—regardless of wealth.


And yet, some politicians push the dangerous narrative that these people are the enemy. That success is something to punish. That building something great should come with a target on your back. That’s not just bad policy—it’s reckless.


Here’s the truth: wealth is mobile. Billionaires and millionaires can live anywhere. If we keep pushing them out, many will leave—and they are already starting to. And when they do, history shows us that wealth rarely returns. That means fewer jobs, fewer donations, and far less tax revenue for the city’s core services. Everyone loses.


America has succeeded because we reward success. New York became the capital of the world because we welcomed the builders, the dreamers, and the doers—not because we chased them away. The ambition of our entrepreneurs hasn’t just transformed New York—it has changed the world.


What we need now is unity, not division. The billionaires and millionaires who live here are not a threat to New York—they’re a vital part of it. They are job creators, cultural patrons, and committed New Yorkers who believe in this city’s future.


Let’s not turn them into scapegoats. Let’s celebrate their role, protect the spirit of enterprise, and build a New York that uplifts everyone—together.

 
 
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