New York’s Retroactive Exit Tax: Why Companies Can Never Really Leave... or Can They?

As New York State and City extend high-income surcharges and debate still-higher corporate rates, any new levy or extension that reaches back to tax income earned before a company relocates to Florida or Texas effectively functions as a retroactive exit penalty—one that punishes firms for succeeding in New York under yesterday’s rules. With the top 1% already funding over 40% of income-tax revenue, each major headquarters departure to a zero-income-tax state costs hundreds of millions annually, losses that higher rates on the remaining base rarely recover. This presentation examines the accelerating corporate flight to Florida and Texas, the constitutional limits on retrospective taxation, and why, until policymakers abandon the strategy of taxing mobile capital into exile, New York will continue hemorrhaging capital and jobs. Learn more: https://www.cummings.law/redomestication/