ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul is begging wealthy New Yorkers who fled the city to come back and continue padding the Empire State’s lavish public handouts.
Hochul made the case against caving to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s demands that she hike income taxes — by saying she not only wants fat cats to stay in the city, but also clawing at those who have moved to states with better business climates like Florida.
“Maybe the first step should be go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded,” the Democratic governor said at a forum hosted by Politico last week.
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul is begging wealthy New Yorkers who have fled the city after Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration to return. AP
“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,” she said.
Hochul has made this pitch in recent weeks as Mamdani and his “tax the rich” crew of lefty lawmakers demand she further jack up income taxes to help pay for Hizzoner’s Democratic socialist wishlist and the $5.4 billion budget gap he claims the city faces.
But even Hochul — who is negotiating her own massively bloated $263 billion budget proposal — admitted she’s been cashing in on New Yorkers’ income taxes to buoy state finances for years.
“We have to be smart about this, but we can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in,” bragged Hochul, who faces re-election in November.
The state had been facing a multibillion-dollar budget gap that was largely patched after a great year on Wall Street caused bonuses to shoot up 25% over last year, according to Hochul’s budget office.