NYC's ultra-rich face 52% combined top income tax rate, highest in U.S.

New York City's ultra-high earners will soon have to pay a top marginal income tax rate of nearly 52%, the highest personal income tax hit in the U.S. That means — in theory, at least — that some of the city's wealthiest residents could end up giving more of their paychecks to federal, state and local governments than they keep for themselves.

New York's state senate on Tuesday passed a deal to raise the income taxes collected on those with annual earnings above $1 million. The tax hike for millionaires still must pass the state legislature's lower house and be signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, both of which now seem likely to happen. The higher tax rates will apply to all state residents making more than $1 million, but the city's own local levies will make the Big Apple the highest tax locale in the country. The bite comes as both New York City and state replenish their public coffers amid the pandemic. The also must adapt to changes under Donald Trump's 2017 signature tax-cut law that effectively eliminated personal deductions of state and local taxes on federal income taxes by wealthier residents of New York and similarly high-tax states like Connecticut, California, Illinois and New Jersey.