New York is losing thousands of jobs to pro-business Texas, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to raise corporate taxes would only accelerate the exodus, an analysis released Tuesday by the Big Apple’s top corporate advocacy group claims.
The report issued by the Partnership for the City of New York concludes that the Lone Star State’s low-tax, pro-growth policies are successfully recruiting corporations and diverting jobs from Wall Street firms fed up with Gotham’s high-tax, business-hostile policies.
“New York is already ranked last nationally for tax competitiveness and is consistently ranked among the bottom states for starting a small business and for small business growth,” the partnership’s report said.
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Mamdani has proposed increasing New York’s corporate rate from 7.25% to 11.5%.
New York City’s top combined marginal corporate income tax rate — which includes other levies such as an MTA corporate surcharge — would rise from 17.44% to 22.48%, if Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature approve a hike.
Texas, meanwhile, has no corporate or state income tax and imposes only a modest 0.75 franchise tax.
Courts in the Lone Star State are also more friendly to business interests, compared to litigation-happy New York, and it’s easier to incorporate and open firms there, the report noted.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, the Partnership said, that Texas is chipping away at New York’s preeminence as the capital of US capitalism.
The report found that:
- In 2024, Texas surpassed New York as the state with the most financial services employees, excluding insurance and real estate.
- 23 companies relocated their headquarters from New York to Texas over the last decade, second only to firms from California, which is much closer to the Lone Star State.
- JPMorgan Chase now employs more people in Texas than in any other state, including its home state of New York. The banking giant announced last year a new Fort Worth office that will double employee capacity by 2027.
- Wells Fargo opened a new Dallas campus in 2025, increasing office capacity by 1,500 employees.
- Financial services recruitment in Texas surpassed New York’s with 9% more job postings in 2025.
- While New York’s financial services industry still remains more productive — generating $330 billion in gross regional product in 2024, 71% more than Texas — Texas’ financial services sector grew faster over the decade, with GRP rising 121% compared to New York’s 72%.
- Texas received approval to launch its own stock exchange, slated to open by the end of 2026, positioning itself as a more issuer-friendly and lower-cost exchange than the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
“Texas isn’t winning because of one tax lever — it’s executing a coordinated, multi-dimensional strategy to attract jobs and capital and NY is falling into their trap,” said Partnership CEO Steve Fulop. “Our report from TODAY outlines what’s actually happening with how we are losing … facts matter here.”
Mamdani on Tuesday said he’d have to raise property taxes if Hochul and the legislature don’t boost income taxes on the rich and corporate taxes.
Hochul, who is seeking re-election this fall, said she opposes tax increases.
“At a moment when growth decisions are increasingly mobile, tax policy cannot be viewed in isolation. New York is missing the bigger picture of what other states are deliberately doing as we just talk taxes,” Fulop said.
“You can’t just tax people for the sake of taxing people,” he said. “This approach to pressure the governor [to raise taxes] is a mistake. I certainly understand the pressure around the budget, but this approach misses the larger competitive reality and will cost more in the long run.”
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