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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul made a surprising admission two weeks ago. Speaking at Politico’s “New York Agenda: Albany Summit” on March 11, the governor said her state now lacks the “high-net-worth” residents needed to pay for “the generous social programs we want to have.” Hochul said some “patriotic” rich people have stepped up to help fill the state’s budget gap, and that, sure, it’s OK to write her a check. But if you really want to help, Hochul implored her wealthy supporters, “visit Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded.”
Hochul sounded annoyed as she delivered that last line, as if it is the fault of her supporters — who are writing her checks to sustain her struggling state — that their wealthy friends have left for sunnier pastures.
Her comments were surprising because, well, Hochul played a large role in forcing those Palm Beachers out in the first place. In 2022, Hochul said, “Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida, where you belong, okay? Get out of town because you don’t represent our values.”
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She was talking to Republicans, and they heard her loud and clear. And she wasn’t alone in making comments like these. In 2014, her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, struck a similar note. “Extreme conservatives,” he said, citing policy positions like abortion and gun rights, “have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”
And these are the “moderate” Democrats in the state!
Those who could leave did. The deluge began under Cuomo and continued apace under Hochul.
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Did they really not consider that they were cratering their own tax base? Who did they imagine was paying for the wonderful, exorbitantly expensive social services? The blue-haired protesters who elected Mayor Mamdani?
Cuomo could be forgiven for not realizing, back in 2014, that he needed the tax base far more than they needed him. But Hochul’s comments came two years into the pandemic, after people like me were already long gone, and it was clear that remote work had already altered the jobs landscape. Hochul said as much in the recent clip: “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan, and they were captives to our state.” They are captives no more.
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My family left New York City because Hochul catered to the teachers’ unions and refused to open public schools that had been needlessly closed while private schools were open. When schools finally did open full-time — a year after states like Florida — the kids were kept masked well into 2022, even outdoors, sitting on the ground for lunch and masking between bites, despite being at extremely low risk for COVID. Meanwhile, Hochul, in her 60s and therefore at a much higher risk from COVID, could be seen traipsing around the state maskless.
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Other New Yorkers left because the disarray on city streets was getting worse, and we were discouraged from talking about it. The migrant problem had spiraled, and New Yorkers were told they had to keep paying for hotel rooms or debit cards for people who had come in illegally, lest they be seen as aligned with Donald Trump. Homelessness had also worsened, with children begging in the street — a feature of third-world countries — appearing in what was once America’s jewel of a city. We left because everything was fraying, and the New York state government just didn’t care.
It wasn’t the taxes — or not just the taxes, anyway. It’s not exactly like the Onion headline from 2010: “8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize New York City Is a Horrible Place to Live.” New York was always a tough place to live, and it was always expensive. What changed in the last decade is that it became impossible to trust that the people in charge were working to make it better.
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Did Hochul mean it when she said Republicans should leave New York? Did she mean it when she endorsed socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani? Who knows? It became impossible to have faith that the governor was working for anyone other than the special interest groups who support her.
It wasn’t just extremely wealthy New Yorkers who took a look around and realized their taxes weren’t being used properly. Plenty of non-billionaires and multimillionaires left, too. The fabric of the city changed. No, Gov. Hochul can no longer keep New Yorkers “captive.” It’s too late now to bring them “home.” They are home — it’s just not New York anymore.
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