This improvement is largely due to artificial intelligence firms coming to the Big Apple. According to the JLL report<\/a>, AI companies are renting at double the rate they did in 2025. But it\u2019s also thanks to corporations recommitting to the city, like Bank of America signing a lease for two decades in Midtown.<\/a><\/p>\n New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Passover seder gathering in Manhattan on April 6, 2026.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a promising sign for Mamdani, a democratic socialist who proposed various tax hikes during his campaign in 2025. While I\u2019m wary of trying to glean too much from a single report, it\u2019s evidence that perhaps the threats of people and businesses leaving the city are empty ones.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also quite ironic, given that the jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> on April 3 shows low wage growth nationally<\/a>. Republicans have spent years claiming to be the party of business, but it doesn\u2019t appear that things are improving under their leadership at the national level.<\/p>\n Opinion: Trump bails on his biggest promise just in time for midterm elections <\/a><\/p>\n Whether business leaders like it or not, NYC remains the Big Apple<\/p>\n Recently, asset manager Apollo Global Management announced<\/a> that it was making plans for a second headquarters outside of New York City, reigniting the conversation over the mayor\u2019s tax plans.<\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani sworn in as mayor of New York City<\/p>\n 1 of 8<\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor by New York Attorney General Letitia James, left, alongside his wife Rama Duwaji, right, in the former City Hall subway station on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York City. Mamdani’s term as mayor begins immediately in the new year, and a public inauguration will also take place in the afternoon at City Hall.<\/p>\n On the campaign trail, Mamdani had proposed raising the corporate income tax<\/a> from 7.25% to 11.5%. In his budget proposal, he called on increasing the tax rate for the top percentile of earners<\/a> in the city to 5.88%.<\/p>\n JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon<\/a> added to the hysteria on April 6, noting that the company\u2019s Texas office now had more employees than its New York City office and reminding shareholders that the city could always go back to the way it was in the 1970s.<\/p>\n Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don’t have the app? Download it for free from your app store<\/a>.<\/p>\n But whether business leaders like it or not, New York City is going to remain the largest city in the country for the foreseeable future \u2013 meaning that having a presence here is nonnegotiable for global corporations, even if taxes are raised. Business leaders may love to complain about Mamdani, but the idea that they\u2019re deserting the city is laughable \u2013 and they know it.<\/p>\n Opinion: Democrats have momentum for November elections. Don’t mess it up. <\/a><\/p>\n It also doesn\u2019t seem like tax increases are going to happen, at least if Kathy Hochul has anything to say about it. The New York governor didn\u2019t include any tax increases<\/a> in her own budget proposal, despite their popularity among the New York City Council and the state legislature.<\/p>\n Some bad signs for New York City, but nothing new<\/p>\n There are still signs New York City has some setbacks, just like the rest of the country.<\/p>\n The city comptroller recently said<\/a> that aside from the health care and social assistance category, New York has lost nearly 40,000 jobs over the past year. The city is facing a $5.4 billion budget shortfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet things are dire everywhere \u2013 it\u2019s not just because New York City has a leftist mayor.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t see why it\u2019s so bad to increase taxes on the wealthiest people in New York City if the tradeoff is a wider social safety net. I voted for Mamdani because I believe the government is responsible for a certain level of care. I believe in the power of universal childcare and free buses, and I think New York City can show the rest of the country what\u2019s possible when politicians refuse to bend the knee to corporate interests.<\/p>\n If anything, corporate leaders should change their perspective and show that they’re willing to play ball. Clearly, they don’t plan on disappearing from New York.<\/p>\n Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Peque\u00f1o on Bluesky:\u00a0@sarapequeno.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists<\/a> and other writers on the Opinion front page<\/a>, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion<\/a> and in our Opinion newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mamdani’s progress on NYC hasn’t slowed business. At all | Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4091ab7215e7d6341da5b0d95f952c4b.jpeg\"\/)
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