New York Gov. Kathy Hochul — a Democrat who’s up for reelection this fall — has a message for people who’ve left her state and decamped to more successful, affordable, and functional places, like Florida: Come back, or at least cut us a check, so we can keep implementing “progress.”
“The fact is that I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state,” Hochul said in an interview last month. She applauded “some patriotic millionaires” who “stepped up,” adding that more of them ought to “cut me checks,” and that for others, “maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded.”
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Hochul blamed the exodus on the pandemic and the widespread move toward remote work. “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan and work in New York State, and they were captives to our state. They were going to stay,” she said. “Captives” is certainly an interesting word choice, isn’t it? But “that’s no longer the case,” she lamented.
That’s quite a change in tone from a woman who famously urged her 2022 Republican opponent and people like him to leave the state. “Get out of town,” she taunted them. “You do not represent our values. You are not New Yorkers,” she continued, directing them to “head down to Florida where you belong, OK?”
Many, many people have taken her up on that suggestion, and now she’s finally realizing what a problem she’s created. It’s not just New York, of course. Lots of people have chosen to free themselves from blue state governance, opting for greener (or perhaps redder) pastures. Virtually every trendline shows major Democrat-dominated states and cities bleeding population and capital, fueling growth in places that offer lower taxes, less regulation, more freedom, and a more affordable life.
This will have substantial political implications after the next census, if, that is, the Census Bureau doesn’t badly screw up its job again. Some of the worst basket cases are doubling down on failure, electing outright communists into positions of power, which will force more people toward the exits. Rather than improving their policies to arrest or reverse the tide of fleeing, some of these failing leftists are now devising schemes to punish the fleers. Via KOMO News:
“Across the country, at least ten states are now exploring or have already passed an exit or wealth tax in order to combat revenue losses from residents fleeing to lower tax areas. That includes California, New York, Washington, and Michigan. … Among the most prominent is California’s proposed “Billionaire Tax Act,” which would impose a one-time 5% tax on the total net worth of anyone worth over $1 billion living in the state. Which would impact at least 200 people. Another state, Washington, who just passed a 9.9% tax on incomes over $1 million. dollars. The bill’s passage came around the same time Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who has an estimated net worth of over $3 billion, announced his move to Florida…Among the other high-profile companies relocating is ExxonMobil, which is moving its corporate registration from New Jersey to Texas. Uber, from California, is also in Texas. Plus, Yamaha Motor from California to Georgia. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also took a swing at New York City officials this week. He said high taxes are causing a surge of businesses to leave the Big Apple.”
Wealth taxes are actively harmful and counterproductive, which is why such policies have been abandoned across Europe. This experiment has already taken place.
It failed.
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Such taxes are driving people out of places that are now proposing or implementing these schemes, hence the exit tax efforts to bludgeon families and businesses into sticking around for more abuse, or to retaliate against those who cry uncle and escape. The very concept of exit taxes is an admission of abject failure.
Republican operative Logan Dobson said it well in his succinct observation that “a good barometer of ‘is my state well run?’ is definitely ‘are we considering taxing people for leaving?’” Indeed. A growing list of states and politicians are defiantly flunking that test.
