Posted on 03/18/2026 9:03:12 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Kathy Hochul has a big problem: she and Mamdani have big spending plans, but the tax base of New York is eroding because high-net-worth individuals are leaving the state for greener pastures.
Her solution? Ask them to come back. Be patriotic. Take one for the team.
No, really. This is how well Democrats understand economics.
With the war raging in the Persian Gulf, it's easy to let a host of other stories fall to the wayside. But there are plenty of them still out there that deserve attention. I have a bunch of stuff about crime, immigration, elections (did you know that there was a primary in Illinois yesterday that knocked out a bunch of progressives? There was, and it was glorious!).
But I couldn't let this one pass by, because it exemplifies a serious problem the Democrats have as they move forward into the presidential primary season, not too far from now. The candidates are already out there making their pitches to voters, and each of them has a legacy of failure to clean up in a short time or develop defenses for.
Hochul's appeal to the millionaires who are fleeing New York came last week at a POLITICO "Fireside Chat" that was fascinating, if you are into such things. It gave us insight into the dilemma that national Democrats face: their base is radicalized, their records are appalling, and their states are bleeding citizens.
Hochul was (sort of) pressed on the issue of taxes and skyrocketing energy costs in New York, and predictions that climate change legislation will push energy costs even higher at a time when Democrats are talking about affordability. Zohran Mamdani insists that he wants higher taxes in New York City, and the Democrats in the legislature are pushing a range of new taxes to fill the coffers.
If she weren't running for president, she might go ahead with passing some of those tax increases, but she needs money from the very people who are turning their backs in order to fund her upcoming campaign.
So she temporizes.
Nick Reisman, Politico: To go from Olympics to One House Budget resolutions, which came out this week and I think are going to get voted on tomorrow. No huge surprise, but the State Assembly and the Senate included these revenue-raisers, tax increases, on some of the higher tax brackets and also corporations in their plans. Has your thinking changed at all on these tax proposals?
Governor Hochul: Let me frame it this way: I know New Yorkers are exasperated. They feel that everything's stacked against them. They're not getting ahead, their rents are too damn high, their childcare costs are high, their utility bills – and, thank you to Washington, we're going to have higher prices at the pump, we already do. Everything just seems so hard for people, so I understand that frustration. You should’ve joined me in the North Country yesterday, in Ogdensburg and Watertown, and people are so upset about the tariffs raising the cost of everything. So there is this anxiety which is real, and we're continuing to address the affordability crisis, which I believe should be the number one priority of this legislative session. What can we do to take off some of that pain that New Yorkers are feeling that I hear about literally every day? What I want to make sure we are smart about is having a system in place where it's not just taxing for the sake of taxing. And being conscious of the fact that I need people who are high-net-worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state. Right?
Now, there are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. Okay, cut me the checks. If you want to be supportive, but 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. So I philosophically don't have a problem, 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. And I would say remote work changed everything. There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan or work in New York State and they were captives to our state. They were going to stay. We saw that that's not the case. Wall Street, businesses looking at Texas? They're not going there because they have a nicer governor, I know that for sure, but they're going there because of the tax rate. We have to be smart about this. But we can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in.
Nick Reisman, Politico: To hear Mayor Mamdani talk about it though, he says it's not about taxing for the sake of taxes — he's got a $5.3, $5.4 billion city budget gap that he has to address. I know you kicked in some money to pay that gap down, but he says that he really needs this tax increase, or at least the flexibility to get a tax increase in the City in order to address some of the fiscal challenges he's facing in the first 10 weeks or so of his administration. Just, what do you make of the Mayor's posture on that?
Governor Hochul: No, listen, I understand, and I'm working very hard to have a constructive relationship with the Mayor. You saw that when he was Mayor for eight days and we helped him get a win that he had hoped for, something that I had been wanting to do for a long time, and we put significant resources from the state into a multi-year program to expand child care across the state, not just New York City, but have the rest of the state catch up. We've done that, and it was not an insignificant amount of money for us to say right off the get-go, “$1.5 billion here you go, this will help.” But now it's up to the City Council — and I've had conversations with Councilmembers. They're doing their job too, looking at exactly is the Budget portrayed the way it needs to be? Are there areas of savings? Are there areas where we can just be making adjustments? And so I'm going to let them do their work and that's how it's supposed to play out.
Mamdani is a HUGE problem for her, which is why she was reluctant to back him. New York's tax base is driven by people in the financial and services sector, and they are sick of being taxed to death. So sick that they are leaving.....SNIP
I saw part of her speech - it was pathetic!
In effect she said “you have to understand, WE need to spend more of YOUR money!”
The Wicked Witch of the North East can go to hell.
I don’t think it matters. All the smart people have already left New York. What’s left are the idiots who vote for the likes of Hochul and Mamdani.
😆😆😆😆😆
NY becoming a third world cesspool! Way to go New Yorkers!
Nothing Democrats love more than money.
.........................
O P M
a drug
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY
Nothing Democrats love more than money.
Do things, do things, do things, bad things with it
Yes, but just like NY(metro vs rural) there is a huge difference between the Seattle/Olympia/Tacoma I5 area and Spokane or the small towns in the mountains.
I grew up in WNY. Suburbs of Buffalo. Which was more like the midwest. I knew others at SU that grew up in Lowville and other small towns in the Adirondacks. I also knew guys from Utica(the land of the women with mustatches) and Bayshore(longa iland). The land of JAPS(Jewish American Princess).
NY was very diverse in a GOOD WAY. Not what they mean today.
I grew up on the edge of suburbia in Orchard Park, NY. Home of Rich Stadium(Bills). Yet, hunted deer in the backyard.
I had neighbors who worked at Bethlehem Steel on the lake. Until those 25K jobs went bye bye.
Reminds me of President Trump's Bronx rally during his New York "trial." Even in heavy democRAT area, THOUSANDS showed up for the rally.
Well, maybe they should build special, exclusive, high end, premium complexes and offer them for free to the extremely wealthy!
Sort of like what they do to incentivize football teams!
Excellent point. The Left is hostile to the entire concept of profits. If they're feeling magnanimous, they may agree grudgingly to permit a small percentage of what they deem to be "reasonable" profits. But that "reasonable" level always ignores things like the cost of capital, and recovery for those years in which you lost money.
In essence, they expect businesses to accept all the risk of economic loss without any corresponding right to at least try to offset those risks by making higher profits. No real upside, lots of potential downside.
And who is going to invest their money in that?
and enjoy better weather
with an Islamicist supporter in office?
not a chance of people returning to NYC, the flow is exactly in the opposite direction
Sorry Hochul you can’t be TRUSTED
They got what they wanted....millions of illegal freeloaders! Enjoy!
After Kathy and Mami leave NY, millionaires will probably return readily.......
Socialists always want more money. They run off your Tax Base and then they want everyone’s business. ‘Nationalize’ everything and then run in the competent way that politicians run everything. Then you got promises and no way to pay for them. So the next thing they do is become dictators to protect themselves.
Same ole cycle.
She’s rich, and Zohran will become very very rich in this term, so maybe they can cover the shortage.
If you went back to NY you’d have to pay a jizya tax for leaving the “religion”.
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