Desperate New York Governor Kathy Hochul pleaded with wealthy ex-NYers to return and pay taxes to support “generous social programs.”
Wealthy people fled New York to avoid high taxes during the Biden years. They relocated to tax havens in Florida and Texas.
Gov. Hochul and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani are feeding and housing illegals who currently reside in hotels in the City.
“I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs,” Hochul begged.
Mamdani proposed raising taxes on the rich to pay for their social programs. But Hochul was against that idea. Instead, she proposed encouraging millionaires to return to the state and pay taxes.
“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,” Hochul said at a forum hosted by Politico last week.
“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 added.
New York Gov Kathy Hochul is begging wealthy people who have moved to Florida and Texas to come back to New York and pay taxes. ?
"I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state. Now, there are some patriotic… pic.twitter.com/B4ql1ktcq6
— Based Jessica (@RealJessica) March 18, 2026
Hochul, who faces re-election in November, rejected Mamdani’s plan to “tax the rich”. She has defended wealthy residents in recent weeks as Mamdani proposes hiking income taxes.
Mamdani wants to use funds raised by a 2% tax hike to help pay for his democratic socialist wishlist.
Hochul managed to find $1.5 billion to bail out the city and another $1.7 billion to expand childcare access for illegal aliens in her record-high spending proposal.
“We have to be smart about this, but we can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in,” said Hochul, who proposes a spending budget of $263 billion.
