The Big Apple’s billionaires are hemorrhaging cash.
Nine New York-based billionaires fell off this year’s Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans — and 18 have dropped off in the past five years.
Of those who didn’t make it back onto this year’s list, one died – investor Jim Simons – and the rest saw declining fortunes.
Fortress Investment Group Chairman Wesley Edens saw his net worth plummet to $2.7 billion this year from $3.9 billion in 2023, knocking him out of the top 400.
Similarly, cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder’s granddaughter, Jane Lauder, is now worth $1.6 billion, less than half her $3.4 billion last year.
Gotham remains home to the most billionaires of any American city, with 41, worth a collective $517.5 billion, according to this year’s Forbes roundup.
Los Angeles and San Francisco are second with 15 billionaires each. Austin, Texas, is second to the Big Apple when measuring billionaires’ net worth, at $382.2 billion.
“New York remains the financial capital of the world, and is home to many generations of wealthy families,” observed National Tax Foundation vice president Jared Walczak. “New York City has kept many high-wealth individuals because it has a lot to offer that most cities simply don’t.”
But the fluctuating fortunes — subject to the high volatility of the stock market and corporate valuations — leave state tax coffers lighter by many millions, experts told The Post.
The state on the top 1% of earners, who are taxed at an eye-popping 14.8%, for almost half of its tax receipts.
“This is extremely volatile revenue that can dry up quickly and with little warning,” said Ken Girardin, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy.
“New York operates costly and inefficient public schools, Medicaid and mass transit systems that have grown accustomed not only to spending that income, but for that income to continue growing,” he said.
Girardin warned: “Albany will eventually face a painful reckoning as the political class keeps demanding more revenue from taxpayers rather than better outputs from its own operations.”
Additionally, he pointed out, the state is “playing a dangerous game” as work environments grow more mobile, giving New Yorkers the ability to move to less costly states.
Over the past five years, billionaires including investor and Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris, hedge funder Daniel Och and investor Carl Icahn relocated from the Big Apple to Florida.
“Are more people who can afford to put themselves in a different tax haven going to do it? The answer is yes,” mused NYC-based supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
Catsimatidis, who is worth $4.5 billion, cited sky-high taxes and quality of life issues as reasons his fellow magnates are fleeing New York.
“The quality of life in Florida is much better because they don’t have a woke culture and law enforcement,” he said.
