I didn't say don't tip, I said don't use Uber and use a taxi instead (and keep tipping if you want). I don't know what the situation is in NYC, but the last time I visited the US in Illinois, my taxi driver told me he also used Uber when he finished the hours he could legally drive a taxi for. To me that's scary on so many levels: both from the point of view of exploitation, but also personal safety.
I guess I misunderstood. Honestly, a big part of why I use Uber is that there aren't nearly as many taxis in Brooklyn, and the few times I've tried to take them from Manhattan into Brooklyn, it seemed to frustrate the drivers. Within Manhattan, it's not hard to flag a taxi since there are dozen driving by every minute, but the experience is very different outside of there.
In the micro sense, I find it pretty unlikely that I'm single-handedly making much difference personally in the New York economy. While as software engineer in tech I'm undoubtedly better off than average, I'm certainly not anywhere close to wealthy enough that even spending my entire net worth on tips would affect anything at all.