STEVE MOORE CALLS FOR STATES TO END THEIR INCOME TAXES
Economist Steve Moore is a member of our FAIRtax Board of Advisors. During his weekly radio show on WABC, New York, he issued a call for states to eliminate their income taxes.
The call came as part of a riff at the end of his Saturday show on October 18, 2025, discussing how tax policy was driving people out of Northeastern states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and even Maine. He quickly added California to the list, even though California is not in the Northeast.
Steve cited several remarkable statistics on how people fleeing these high-tax states is affecting their tax revenue. Over the last decade, New York State lost $517.5 billion in revenue because former New Yorkers left the state and took their money with them. New Jersey fared little better. It lost $200 billion. If New Jersey had New York’s population, that number would be equivalent to $418.2 billion. Both of those numbers are enormous and would reverse if each of those states eliminated its income taxes.
Steve noted that many New Yorkers are fleeing to Texas, a state that has no state personal income tax. Ever heard of the Texas Stock Exchange? Don’t laugh. It actually exists. Steve also noted that Dallas has more financial workers than New York City. Our board member, John Grafer, exemplifies Steve’s statement. John used to live in a New York suburb and now lives in Dallas.
The prospects for New York remain dim. During his campaign, New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani called for an extra 2% income tax on New Yorkers making $1 million or more. He wants to use the extra revenue to finance free buses and subways, city-owned grocery stores, universal pre-K, and other pork to make New York more “affordable.”
New York has a city income tax. Whether Mamdani can raise enough additional revenue from that tax to finance his proposed programs remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure. If the tax rate increases, there will be even more incentive for people to leave, and the whole idea could backfire. A higher income tax could very easily bring in LESS revenue than the current tax as people flee its grasp. If that happens, New York will find itself in a tailspin.
New York City also has a property tax, accounting for about 44% of the city’s total tax revenues. Mr. Mamdani has called for a rent freeze. A realtor has told me that, as a consequence, the market for real estate in New York City is dead, although the market for rents is red hot. This rent freeze will serve only to throttle funds even more for Mamdani’s programs to make the city more “affordable.”
A state-level FAIRtax would meet and exceed Steve Moore’s objective of eliminating the income tax in New York. FAIRtax supporters in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Nebraska are actively working to eliminate their states’ income taxes and establish them as the first truly FAIRtax states in the United States. If successful, those states will gain more of the income that New York, New Jersey, and others are losing.
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Steve Moore is a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a senior economist for FreedomWorks, and a former senior economic adviser for the Trump Administration. Moore is a founder and principal of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, and is a regular contributor for Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. He hosts a weekly show, “Moore Money,” on WABC Radio, New York. Steve co-founded and served as president of the Club for Growth and is a former member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Steve’s columns have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, and National Review. He has been a member of our Advisory Board since its founding.
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If you hear a spot on the radio about a call to eliminate state income taxes, I would love to hear from you.
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