Not so long ago, visiting New York was one of my biggest dreams. Hollywood portrayed the city as a magical place for romance, fashion, and business. To me, New York was the definition of success, glamour, and wealth.
When I finally visited in 2021, I was confronted with a different reality. I found myself running away from a homeless man who was harassing me. As a tourist, I felt shocked by this and countless other unsavory observations. The constant need to be on high alert did not seem like an isolated incident. It felt like a daily burden for New Yorkers.
Once a global symbol of ambition and prosperity, New York City is now grappling with the consequences of political mismanagement, eroding the very freedoms and entrepreneurial spirit that fueled its rise.
My firsthand experience piqued my curiosity for a new film: NYC’s 400-Year History: Built on Commerce, Destroyed by Politicians, released on February 18 by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CFP). This 30-minute film examines how political overreach has chipped away at the foundations that once made New York the capital of the world.
CFP traces the city’s origin as a trade hub for European and local merchants during colonial times and highlights how the financial sector created economic opportunities and enabled the city to grow. An example of that entrepreneurial dynamism is the rise of Wall Street, which turned New York into the world’s financial epicenter.
However, high taxes and tighter controls on the financial sector have turned against the very essence of New York’s success. Traditions once core to Wall Street—like live auctions or street-level trading—have started to vanish. Restrictive economic policies have discouraged investment, while a lack of political accountability has deepened the city’s challenges: rampant mental illness, a collapsing subway system, widespread homelessness and begging, and an informal, subsistence economy.
New York feels less like a land of opportunity and more like a city people are eager to leave—and that is what they are doing.
Higher Taxes, Fewer Solutions
New York State ranks last in the Tax Foundation’s 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index, due to high tax rates and a complex, burdensome structure. The state’s top individual income tax is 10.9 percent, while corporate taxes range from 6.5 percent to 7.25 percent. The state sales tax stands at 4 percent, and when combined with local sales taxes it climbs to 8.53 percent. Nonresidents working for New York-based companies are also required to pay income taxes to the state, creating double taxation in many cases. New York imposes estate taxes and real-estate transfer taxes, further discouraging investment and dynamism.
While the Tax Foundation acknowledges that New York has historically attracted people, its heavy tax burden is now a critical concern. In 2024, New York ranked as the fifth US state for percentage-wise outward migration. The year before, New York State had the highest net loss of population, on an absolute basis, in the entire country. According to official data, 1.1 percent of residents fled the state in 2023: 480,000 people left while 300,000 new residents moved in.
At the same time, under the Joe Biden administration, roughly 5.8 million immigrants have entered the United States through asylum or other pathways. Of those, New York City alone has received nearly 100,000 asylum seekers and has spent more than $12 billion through fiscal-year 2025 to support them.
While city officials proudly uphold New York City as a haven for immigrants, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Public services are overstretched, violent crime is rising, and public dissatisfaction is mounting.
According to a 2023 survey by nonpartisan think tank Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), only 30 percent of respondents rated the quality of life in New York City as excellent or good, a sharp drop from 50 percent in 2017. Further, one-third of New York City residents described the quality of life as poor, signaling deep and growing discontent with the direction of the city.
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From Innovative to Strained Transportation
The history of New York City’s subway system, which began as a private initiative before being absorbed into the public sector, reflects the city’s original spirit of innovation and enterprise. It embodies the true essence of capitalism: a vehicle for human progress. The subway connected workers to jobs, markets to consumers, and neighborhoods to opportunity.
However, when the subway fell into public management, it lacked the privately owned incentives for efficiency, maintenance, and customer service. Today, the system struggles under overcrowding, poor maintenance, and outdated infrastructure. Riders face dirty stations and deteriorating wagons, clear signs of a system that can no longer keep up. According to the CBC’s 2023 survey, “fewer than half of New Yorkers report feeling very safe or somewhat safe on the subway, and that falls to just 22 percent for nighttime subway safety.”
As shown in the CFP documentary, New York City’s history embodies the real meaning and potential of capitalism: not merely wealth accumulation but dynamic growth and solutions to real-world problems. Capitalism allows an inventor with a brilliant idea to raise the investment to bring it to life.
New York’s greatness was built on the foundations of trust, transparency, and innovation. When those values are abandoned, the decline becomes visible not only in economic statistics but in the everyday experience of the people who ride the subway, walk the streets, and try to make a life in the city.
