Hochul, Losing High Earners to Other States, Seeks ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Willing to Pay New York’s Taxes

High-earning New Yorkers are fleeing to lower-taxed states, leaving Albany’s treasury wanting. It’s a moment when the Constitution, which pits states in competition, is seen in action. Rather than adjust and attract the wealthy back, Governor Kathy Hochul is redefining patriotism as paying a greater share of income to the taxman.In one of Aesop’s fables, a man impatient with his goose laying just a single golden egg per day slaughters it to get more, only to find nothing inside. Mrs. Hochul’s remarks at a Politico forum brought the story to mind as Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City pushes to hike income, property, and corporate tax rates.New York, Mrs. Hochul acknowledged, is “in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden.” She said that she needs “people who are high-net-worth to support the generous social programs that we want.” Noting that “some patriotic millionaires” had “stepped up,” she suggested they “cut me the checks.” Mrs. Hochul said that “maybe the first step” is to “go down to Palm Beach” and see whom “we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded.” Florida is the top destination for those who escape from New York, according to the Census Bureau.‘The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs,’ by Milo Winter, from ‘The Æsop for Children.’ Via Wikimedia CommonsMore than 125,000 New Yorkers moved to Florida between 2018 and 2022, taking nearly $14 billion in income with them, a Citizens Budget Commission report found. Between May 2024 and October 2025, 15,552 New Yorkers earning more than $201,000 a year made the move, along with 164,249 making less than that amount.The steady drain has long vexed Gotham and Albany. New York City’s mayor, Edward Koch, now gone, said that when visiting places “like Florida where most of the people are from New York,” he’d joke, “I’m here at the request of your children to take you home. They miss you.”Subsequent Democrats have taken a more hostile approach. In 2019, when President Trump changed his residency to Palm Beach, Mayor William De Blasio said, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” In August 2020, as the Covid pandemic sparked an exodus, the mayor said he wouldn’t “beg people to stay.”In January of 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo told “right to life,” “pro-assault weapons,” and other voters with positions to his right they had “no place in the state of New York.” He cited Florida’s “climate” and “personal reasons” for the “outmovers,” ignoring taxes and cost of living.Mr. Cuomo’s predecessor, Governor David Paterson, made light of this columnist’s former host, Rush Limbaugh, relocating to Palm Beach in 2019. The move was driven by endless, intrusive audits that demanded proof of where he was every hour of the year.“If I knew that” Limbaugh leaving “would be the result,” Mr. Paterson said, “I would’ve thought about the taxes earlier.” The radio host asked if he was “going to be happy that other taxpayers decide to leave New York, or just me.” He then challenged the governor’s assertion.“If you don’t care about the revenue that you confiscate from me,” Limbaugh said, “then call off your audit dogs, because I’ve been audited for 12 straight years by New York State and New York City.” This despite never broadcasting from our Radio City studio during that period. It falls to Mrs. Hochul to reverse years of taking New York’s golden geese for granted. She might start by asking how Florida governs 23.5 million people with a state budget of $117.4 billion a year while Mr. Mamdani, for a city with less than a third of that population, is proposing a budget that’s $10 billion larger. New York’s total annual expenses are $260 billion, more than double Florida’s despite having almost 3.5 million fewer people. “Generous social programs” alone can’t account for the disparity — and, in any case, spending big isn’t putting her state at a competitive advantage. Recasting a willingness to pay high taxes as patriotic is unlikely to inspire mass reverse migration and fill Albany’s coffers. Better for Mrs. Hochul and Mr. Mamdani to take the moral of Aesop’s tale to heart. When the taxman cuts too deep, citizens will fly the coop and take all their golden eggs with them.

Hochul, Losing High Earners to Other States, Seeks ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Willing to Pay New York’s Taxes

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