One of the most misunderstood parts of local taxation is that it's not an absolute game. You can think whatever you want for your local taxes, but if other states/cities do something else, that impacts behavior. So when setting tax rates, cities should probably look far more at inflow / outflow / sensitivity data than they do (and a lot goes into that, not just rates but probably also beliefs about effectiveness / efficiency of taxes). I would actually predict, given where NYC is, that lowering marginal taxes at some of the higher levels and for corporates would probably increase tax revenue, as right now we're driving people out. So you have to ask: is the goal to maximize taxes and city services, or not?