Hochul Begs Rich New Yorkers To Return From Florida, Admits High Taxes Chased Them Away

New York Governor Kathy Hochul took to a fireside chat this week to essentially beg the wealthy “captives” she’s already chased away to come back and fund her socialist fever dreams.

Sitting down with Nick Reisman at the Politico New York Agenda summit, Hochul finally admitted what conservatives have been saying for years: high taxes actually drive people away.

Imagine that.

After years of treating the state’s high-net-worth residents like an ATM with an infinite balance, Hochul is suddenly “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 … 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.”

Translation? The piggy bank is empty, and the people who used to fill it have realized that Florida doesn’t have a state income tax or a Governor who views them as “captives.”

Kathy Hochul making a weak plea for wealthy people who have left New York (to red states like Florida) to come back to pay their high taxes to fund failing (unaccountable) social programs:

“I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs we have in… pic.twitter.com/7quhsFyWyn

— Matt Whitlock (@MattWhitlock) March 18, 2026

“Remote work changed everything,” Hochul lamented, sounding like a jailer who accidentally left the cell door unlocked. “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan … and they were captives to our state. They were going to stay. We saw that that’s not the case.” She even admitted that Wall Street is eyeing Texas — not because of the personalities involved, but because of the cold, hard math. “They’re not going there because they have a nicer governor… they’re going there because of the tax rate.”

Despite this moment of clarity, Hochul’s solution isn’t to cut spending or scale back the “generous” programs that caused the crisis. Instead, she’s asking “patriotic millionaires” to “cut me the checks” and suggests a recruitment drive in the Sunshine State. “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,” she said.

Good luck with that. Why would anyone trade a cabana in Palm Beach for a “late night call” from a New York politician demanding money?

The governor also spent a significant amount of time whining about the Trump administration, blaming the former President for everything from the price of gas to her own inability to meet radical climate goals. She admitted that her administration’s green energy mandates are “scaring the crap out of everybody” with skyrocketing utility costs, yet she continues to push an “all-of-the-above approach” while begging for “breathing room.”

Ultimately, Hochul is a leader in denial. She wants the “generous” spending of a socialist utopia but is realizing — far too late — that Margaret Thatcher was right: eventually you run out of other people’s money.