Soaring profits on Wall Street have led to record bonuses, stuffing public coffers with additional tax revenue as New York state and city develop their latest budgets.<\/p>\n
But state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said the $49.2 billion cash-bonus pool his office tallied shouldn\u2019t be a license to expand government spending, and could just be a one-off.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs budgets are being finalized both at the city and state level, caution would be appropriate,\u201d the Democratic comptroller said. \u201cThere are so many geopolitical trends that are happening that are way beyond our control. \u200aAs always, we talk about the need for the state and obviously for the city to build up their reserves and keep those reserves for what is truly a rainy day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report by DiNapoli\u2019s office<\/a> put clear numbers on what politicians have been saying for months: Wall Street boomed in 2025, thanks to growth in artificial intelligence companies and market reactions to the Republican-backed tax and spending bill.<\/p>\n The average bonus ticked up 6% from the previous year, to $246,900, according to the report. That reflects the 30% increase in profits, which increased to $65.1 billion in 2025. Cash-bonus payments increased by nearly 30% between 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n There are about 200,000 securities industry employees in New York City, the report said. That\u2019s roughly flat from 2024, and is a near-20-year high.<\/p>\n New York state is highly reliant on top earners to fund government programs. The top 2% of taxpayers accounted for just over half the $61 billion of income taxes collected last fiscal year, according to the state tax department.<\/a><\/p>\n Most of those people work on Wall Street. DiNapoli said the securities industry accounted for $22 billion in state income tax revenue and $6.7 billion of city tax revenue last fiscal year. Additionally, Wall Street accounted for 20.2% of all economic activity in New York City in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cThese jobs are important,\u201d DiNapoli said.<\/p>\n