Owen Jennings: Giovani is Unhappy

Giovani Riveri makes ‘healthy’ sandwiches and ‘coffee to die for’ in the centre of New York, right under the tallest skyscrapers. Giovani is not happy. Some of his best customers and biggest tippers have disappeared. Income is down again. Giovani knows why, too.

“It’s Mamdani. It’s his freakin’ taxes.” He nods up at the glass offices towering above his little bar. “Dey all going to Texas, man. Mamdani is driving the wealthy outa ere”.

He is actually right. New York’s mayor Mamdani ran and was elected on taxing the rich. He’s somewhere left of Bernie Sanders and the crazy Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez. If there is room, there. He is all over rent freezes, LGBTQ rights, fare-free buses, building more houses, higher minimum wages and more. Right out of Labour’s playbook although I guess Mamdani has never heard of Hipkins and the Labour Party. He probably would not even know where New Zealand is.

The tax increases proposed were not just marginal changes. He wants a 34% increase on the top personal rate, taking state and corporate taxes to nearly 20% of a high income. And that is all before Washington gets a buck. A chunky 37% heads to DC before the local tax rapists get involved.

That 20% compares with, say, Texas that has zero state and corporate taxes. Guess where some of the big corporates are heading? Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan among several are shifting top staff to Dallas. Citadel, Elliott, AllianceBernstein are heading to Florida. Total staff numbers are only changing slowly but it is the high-income earners who are moving. Giovani’s tippers.

Mamdani and his sycophants are playing it down, but he has also begun a series of meetings with relevant CEO’s to try and talk them into staying. He is not totally silly. He knows the top 1% of taxpayers are shouldering 45% of the local tax burden. Washington isn’t helping. There is no love between Trump and Mamdani or between the traditional Republicans and the extremist elements among the Democrats.

There should be lessons for Kiwis. Capital is mobile. Many of our wealthiest have multiple houses in various countries. Our few top earners are already copping nearly half our tax imposition. In fact, apply a nett lens and over half of our taxes are generated by around 5% of our citizenry. Over 60% pay no net tax at all. If “fairness” is still a key principle of taxation regimes then we are running a very unfair system.

Hipkins, bolstered by the incessant demands about inequality from the Greens and Te Pati Māori clearly has more and higher taxes in mind. Would he take a minute to analyse the New York situation? I doubt it. He knows the mainstream media won’t tell Mamdani’s story. Few people, if any, in my street know the mayor’s name, let alone what his extreme socialist policies are doing to the once proud financial centre of the Americas.

We may end up with more of our own Giovani’s down the Viaduct.

Owen Jennings, a former Member of Parliament and President of Federated Farmers, maintains a keen interest in ensuring agricultural policies are sensible and fit for purpose. This article was sourced HERE.