Reality Bites Hochul Where it Hurts Most

It was just four short years ago that Kathy Hochul, just one year in from taking over as Governor from Andrew Cuomo, got on her high horse and told her Republican opponents, and by extension anyone who agreed with them on New York’s problems, to pack up and move to Florida.

“Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. OK? Get out of town,” she said during her first campaign for a full term as NY’s governor. She also said, “We are fighting for democracy. We’re fighting to bring government back to the people and out of the hands of dictators.”

That’s not a very “democratic” way to view democracy. In fact, that “it’s my way or (literally) the highway” attitude is more closely associated with dictators than representative governments. At that time NYS was already facing an outmigration problem, and according to polling conducted then it was NY’s high taxes that were the main reason.

In the decade prior to this, NY lost 1 .5 million residents to lower tax states. In just the year of the pandemic, from July 2020 to July 2021, NY lost over 350,000 people. Outmigration is why NY’s congressional delegation is at its lowest level since just after becoming a state.

And in the years since Hochul issued her “hit the road” directive, New Yorkers have continued doing just that. Estimates for 2023 outmigration are as high as 200,000 and for 2024 census data puts it at twice that, over 400,000 people fleeing the state.

Hochul should be pleased that people listened to her. So much so that according to the 2025 United Van Lines 49th Annual Movers Study, New York

was #2 in the nation for people moving out. Only New Jersey, with its highest in the nation business taxes that Mayor Mamdani wants to copy, performed worse.

The problem that some Democrats in Albany are waking up to is that tax revenue has suffered badly compared to what they expected after their last “tax the rich” proposals took effect in January 2021. After taking in $80.4 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2021, revenue from state-imposed taxes and fees jumped to $118.5 billion for FY 2022.

Sounds like a big win, but “tax the rich” revenue the next two years fell to $108.6 billion for the following year and to $103.3 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Meanwhile state spending has continued with explosive growth year after year, increasing from $173.0 billion for FY 2020 to $237 billion for FY 2025.

Now Hochul has woken up, or at least understands that the numbers just don’t add up. At a recent forum hosted by Politico, Hochul said, “Maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded.” She also added, “I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals.”

Wow! That’s one way to admit you badly screwed the pooch. But Hochul’s idea of trying to drag former New Yorkers back just so that they can help fund what she admitted was incredibly generous social welfare spending isn’t very persuasive.

After all, as has been established, New York is not performing better than these other states for all the money it’s taxing and spending. In fact, it’s doing considerably worse in most regards, as the recent poverty report illustrated (see last week’s column).

Of course, this wouldn’t be politics if Hochul didn’t try to play CYA and blame those unpatriotic relocators who listened to her and moved, but selfishly failed to leave their money behind for NY to squander.

She actually appears to have trouble understanding why people she insults as not real New Yorkers and doesn’t appreciate at all would prefer to live in another state with not just much lower taxes, but lower cost of living, safer streets, a better quality of life and are actually appreciated for their contribution. Go figure.