Hochul’s Humiliating Flip-Flop: From “Jump on a Bus to Florida” to “Please Come Home and Pay Our Taxes
New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s hypocritical campaign to lure wealthy residents back from Florida exposes everything wrong with high-tax, big-government thinking. She told supporters at a recent political summit to head down to Palm Beach and “bring back home” the high-net-worth New Yorkers who had left. Recall she had previously urged them to jump on the bus to Florida. Yet incredibly, Hochul has proposed absolutely nothing that would actually induce them to return—no tax cuts, no regulatory relief—and she refuses to acknowledge how her aggressive push for renewable energy has driven utility prices through the roof, making her plea not just desperate but deeply hypocritical.
I’ve been documenting this wealth migration for years, and the latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on March 27 confirms the damage. Between 2022 and 2023—the most recent years available—New York lost a net $9.9 billion in adjusted gross income as high earners fled to lower-tax states. California lost $11.9 billion, Illinois $6 billion, Massachusetts $4 billion, and New Jersey $2.6 billion. Meanwhile, Florida gained $20.6 billion, Texas $5.5 billion, and Tennessee $2.8 billion. Punitive tax rates are a major driver: New York City’s top combined rate hits 14.8 percent while states with no income tax keep attracting capital and jobs. This is basic economics. We learned in the Reagan era that lower marginal rates encourage work, investment, and growth. Today’s soak-the-rich policies do the reverse.
Hochul and New York’s progressive leaders need to wake up before it’s too late. Begging millionaires to return to subsidize ever-growing social spending while refusing to cut taxes, slash red tape, or dial back the renewable mandates that are inflating energy costs is pure fiscal madness. When the next market correction or recession hits, states overly dependent on high earners will face painful shortfalls. The only real solution is smaller government, lower taxes, and greater economic freedom. Until high-tax states like New York embrace those principles, productive Americans will keep voting with their feet—and taking their money with them.