The head of an influential Big Apple business advocacy group warned that companies are already taking steps to relocate or move jobs elsewhere because of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s tax-hike crusade.<\/p>\n
Steve Fulop, CEO of the Partnership for the City of New York, said many corporations are considering leaving or shifting their workforces to less costly states after it was revealed $900 billion asset manager Apollo Global <\/a>Management is plotting a second US headquarters in the Sunbelt.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last week, there have been several [major companies] in the Partnership that have said they\u2019re going down the same road [as Apollo], exploring options in Florida and Texas,\u201d Fulop said Sunday on<\/a> 77 WABC Radio\u2019s \u201cCats Roundtable.\u201d<\/p>\n Steven Fulop speaks during a press conference on April 11, 2025 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cSome of these [firms] \u2026 are major New York City brands that have been headquartered here for 100 years. The fact is \u2013 they\u2019re leaving,\u201d Fulop told host John Catsimatidis.<\/p>\n Fulop later declined to name the firms seriously weighing abandoning or de-emphasizing jobs in the Big Apple when contacted by The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into specific names or speculate on who is down the road of leaving,\u201d Fulop said. \u201cIt\u2019s not appropriate to front-run a company announcement, especially when many of these firms have large employee bases in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I can say clearly and unequivocally is that Apollo\u2019s move is not an isolated case,\u201d he went on. \u201cIt reflects a broader trend tied directly to competitiveness and business leaders feel that some elected officials are tone deaf to the broader economic environment and have no realistic long term plan to fix the affordability crisis beyond raising costs which will only further the challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted that JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon last week said New York State\u2019s high-tax climate puts it at a competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n The Partnership this week is bankrolling a multi-million dollar ad campaign to encourage Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to stare down Mamdani and hold the line on taxes.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends police department briefing on crime statistics for 1st quarter of the year at Police Headquarters in New York, NY on April 2, 2026. Lev Radin\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Mamdani, a democratic socialist who became mayor in January after campaigning on a freebie-filled progressive agenda, has floated a menu of tax hikes to generate money for the city that includes increasing income taxes on the wealthy, boosting the estate tax and upping the corporate tax.<\/p>\n All of those options would need approval from the state, but Hochul \u2014 who is up for re-election this year \u2014 has resisted the push despite mounting pressure from the leftwing of his party.<\/p>\n Mamdani has continued to beat the drum that tax hikes are needed and he even threatened to hike local property taxes 9.5% if the state doesn\u2019t OK his other proposals. He has said the extra income is needed to close a projected $5.4 billion in the city budget due July 1.<\/p>\n But his message was undercut by the City Council, which released a financial analysis last week claiming the city\u2019s massive $127 billion budget could be balanced without tax hikes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fulop said his group wants to make sure new taxes \u201care going to force people out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani has continued to beat the drum that tax hikes are needed. Earth Pixel LLC. \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to be able to communicate broadly how fragile the economy is and that some of these legislators who are pushing tax increases for the sake of tax increases are really not thinking about the long-term best interests of the city and region,\u201d Fulop said.<\/p>\n He said the support for the ad campaign comes from a portion of annual dues paid by the Partnership\u2019s 300 members, not just members of the group\u2019s executive board.<\/p>\n