Joseph Spector and Sean Lahman

Albany Bureau

The number of New Yorkers whose income exceeded %241 million increased 16 percent between 2008 and '12.

Manhattan led the pack with nearly 19%2C000 millionaires%2C or 46 percent of the total.

The numbers grew 38 percent in Erie County%2C 33 percent in Monroe%3B and 22 percent in Broome.

ALBANY – The number of New York state residents whose income exceeded $1 million increased 16 percent between 2008 and 2012, reaching the highest point since 2008, state data showed.

New Yorkers making more than $1 million in taxable income in 2012 jumped to 41,414 filers, up from 35,705 in 2011 and exceeding the 35,788 millionaires in 2008, according to records from the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

Westchester County had the most making more than $1 million outside Manhattan with about 7,300, up 10 percent between 2008 and 2012, the most recent figures available. Some counties also had large increases: up 38 percent in Erie County; 33 percent in Monroe and Dutchess counties; and 22 percent in Broome County.

It's the latest rebound for the state's wealthiest residents amid ongoing pressure from liberal groups and unions for New York leaders to increase taxes on the rich. Those groups said the growth in those making $1 million or more a year is another reason why the rich should pay more in taxes to fund schools, infrastructure and services for the needy.

"I think the evidence of the growing number of millionaires shows that a surcharge on millionaires doesn't drive them out of the state," said Billy Easton, executive director of the union-backed Alliance for Quality Education. "So asking them to pay a little more, it is a totally reasonable approach."

Just because you file taxes on a $1 million income doesn't necessarily make you a millionaire, though it certainly puts you in the ballpark.

Conservative groups said the increase in those making $1 million or more a year in New York doesn't tell the full picture. New York had the slowest growth in the country in millionaires between 2011 and 2012, said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for State Policy.

He cited IRS records that showed the number of millionaires nationwide grew by 29 percent, from 304,000 to 392,000, between 2011 and 2012. In New York, it was up 15 percent, ranking last in the nation.

McMahon said the figures are exacerbated because wealthy people boosted their income reporting as much as possible in 2012 to avoid new, higher federal tax rates in 2013.

"We have a tax code that's dependent on high-wealth people, and in a crucial year, we were at the bottom of the pile," McMahon said.

Between 2010 and 2011, the number of millionaires in New York grew by 8.5 percent and was up 19 percent between 2009 and 2010, state records show. During the recession, millionaires in New York dropped 22 percent in 2009 compared with 2008.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has argued that taxing the rich hurts the state's competitiveness. In 2011, he and the Legislature agreed to keep higher income taxes on millionaires, but he lowered them slightly for the rich and the middle class. Still, the higher rate on the rich raises about $2 billion for the state's coffers, helping to stave off budget deficits.

The highest tax bracket in New York is a marginal rate of 8.82 percent for individuals who earn $1 million or more and married couples above $2 million.

In March, Cuomo rejected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's call to raise taxes to pay for prekindergarten in the city. Instead, Cuomo added more aid to the state budget for the program.

Cuomo said Thursday in a speech in Albany that people and businesses will simply leave the state if taxes are increased. New York is already among the highest taxed states in the nation, and it's likely to be surpassed by low-tax Florida next year as the third most populous state.

About 1.2 million people left for other states between 2000 and 2009, the Empire Center said.

"We're in a competition with those other states," Cuomo said. "Our friends who say we should use the tax code to address social inequities and raise the taxes on the rich: If that's going to happen, that has to happen at the federal level."

The reason, he said, is because, "We are in a foot race with every other state, and our level of taxation and our regulations are going to say whether we come in first, second, third or fourth."

In Broome County, the number of resident earning $1 million or more a year increased from 76 to 93 between 2008 and 2012, up 22 percent. There were fewer than 10 millionaires in Chemung County in 2008, but 33 in 2012, the state's records show.

The number grew slightly in Tompkins County: from 50 to 56. Putnam County, a New York City suburb, had a 29 percent increase in millionaires — from 105 to 135 between the five years.

There were nearly 19,000 millionaires in Manhattan in 2012, up 16 percent since 2008 and 46 percent of the total in the state.

Monroe's numbers

In Monroe County, there were 578 residents making $1 million or more in 2012, compared with 762 in Erie County. Dutchess had 263, while neighboring Ulster County had 96.

The list of people in Monroe County whose income exceeded $1 million, whether they're newly minted millionaires or old hands, is of course private. It probably contains some familiar names — think Wegman, Wilmot, Glazer — plus other names that aren't on the tip of the public tongue. Whoever they are, their particulars are kept under lock and key.

But on the theory that anyone who rakes in $1 million or more a year probably lives in a commensurate house, the Democrat and Chronicle developed and examined a list of every privately owned home in Monroe County assessed at $1 million or more.

There are 106 of them at present, property records show.

Pittsford has the most of any municipality, 35, and then Brighton with 25. Mendon has 20, Webster 10, Irondequoit 7, Rochester 4, Perinton 3, Penfield 1 and Greece 1.

If you're keeping score, that's 104 of them east of the Genesee River and only two to the west.

The most highly valued house in the county is on the Lake Ontario shoreline in Webster. It's assessed at $3,779,900.

In an attempt to get a handle on how our local wealth is amassed, the Democrat and Chronicle also used public records to ascertain the owner or owners of each of the 106 million-dollar houses, and then tried to determine how they made their money.

We found 16 property owners whose primary income, as best we could tell, came from the retail trade, and 16 homes where one or both owners were health care professionals.

Fourteen homeowners were in corporate management, and 12 each were in property development/management and various service businesses. Ten made their fortunes in manufacturing, 10 more in financial services and seven in construction. We were unable to determine the occupations of nine of the million-dollar home owners.

Good for NY

More millionaires help the state's finances. This year, the state budget estimates that millionaires will make up about 1 percent of the state's total income tax filers, but account for about 41 percent of the taxes paid.

Cuomo has been criticized for relying heavily on the wealthy to bankroll his re-election last month. Of the $45 million he raised, 81 percent came from people who gave $10,000 or more, a review by the New York Public Interest Research Group found in October.

"He's been the governor of the wealthy on economic issues," charged former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County.

Brodsky criticized Cuomo for agreements with the Legislature this year to cut bank and estate taxes.

"America is a place where people can make a lot of money. That's good," Brodsky said. "What's unfortunate is the notion that they need special tax treatment. It raises the question of fair share."

Advocates for education and health care will again ramp up their push for more state spending after Cuomo releases his 2015-16 budget in late January for the fiscal year that starts April 1. He will lay out his agenda for 2015 in his State of the State address Jan. 7.

Business groups will be pressing for more tax cuts, saying New York remains an expensive state.

Mike Durant, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said Cuomo should focus not on Wall Street, but on small businesses, which represent more than half of the state's private-sector workforce.

"For all the superlatives the last four years, Albany has been a lot kinder to big business or Wall Street than Main Street," Durant said.

JSPECTOR@Gannett.com

Twitter.com/gannettalbany

SLAHMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/seanlahman

Includes reporting by staff writer Steve Orr.

Findings

•The number of people whose annual income exceeded $1 million in New York increased 16 percent between 2008 and 2012 to 41,414 tax filers, state records showed.

•Manhattan led the pack with nearly 19,000 millionaires, or 46 percent of the total. Second was Westchester County with 7,300.

•The numbers grew 38 percent in Erie County, 33 percent in Monroe and Dutchess counties; and 22 percent in Broome County.