Kathy Hochul’s plea to wealthy New Yorkers exposes a political contradiction: ‘eroded’ tax base, higher-tax pressure

kathy hochul is urging wealthy New Yorkers to return from states such as Florida and Texas, arguing New York’s tax base has “eroded” even as political pressure inside the state is framed around raising taxes on high earners.

Why is Kathy Hochul asking the wealthy to come back now?

Speaking at Politico’s “New York Agenda: Albany Summit” event last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, described a state she says is competing directly with other states “who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals. ” In that context, she made a pointed argument for attracting — and re-attracting — residents with a “high net worth. ”

Her stated rationale was not cultural or symbolic. It was fiscal. Kathy Hochul said she needs high-net-worth taxpayers “to support the generous social programs that we wanna have in our state. ” She underscored the point by suggesting that wealthy New Yorkers should visit Palm Beach, Florida, to “see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded. ”

In the same remarks, she framed remote work as a structural shift: “remote work changed everything, ” she said. She also described corporate migration pressures in blunt terms, saying “Wall Street businesses looking at Texas” are moving due to taxes.

What’s the central question the public still can’t answer?

The governor’s argument rests on a basic tension that remains unresolved in public view: if New York’s tax base has “eroded” and the state is competing with lower-burden jurisdictions, what is the governing plan to keep high earners from leaving again — while sustaining the “generous social programs” Kathy Hochul says the state wants?

On one side is the governor’s appeal to mobile wealth, shaped by remote work and interstate competition. On the other is an intensifying political debate around taxing the wealthy, illustrated by the governor being publicly pressured by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to hike taxes on high earners, even as the governor calls for those same taxpayers to return.

What remains unclear from Kathy Hochul’s public remarks at the summit is where the line will be drawn between revenue stability and tax policy signals that may be read — fairly or not — as hostile to the very people she is asking to come back.

Evidence in the record: “eroded” base, remote work, and an admission of competition

Verified fact: Kathy Hochul publicly stated New York’s tax base has “eroded, ” and she acknowledged that New York is competing with other states that “have less of a tax burden. ” She also said remote work changed everything.

Verified fact: Kathy Hochul said she needs individuals with “a high net worth” paying taxes in New York to support “generous social programs. ”

Verified fact: She said “Wall Street businesses looking at Texas” are moving due to taxes.

Verified fact: Kathy Hochul said, “We have to be smart about this, ” and added, “We can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in. ”

Read together, these statements amount to a public admission that the state’s current fiscal model depends heavily on retaining and attracting top taxpayers — and that other states’ lower tax burdens, combined with remote work flexibility, have changed the competitive landscape.

Stakeholders, incentives, and the political crossfire around kathy hochul

Two separate fronts now define the pushback to the governor’s appeal.

Electoral challenger: Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican running in the gubernatorial contest, issued a statement criticizing the governor’s approach. In his framing, the governor’s newfound focus on out-migration confirms what “New Yorkers already know. ” He argued that raising taxes and driving up costs leads people to leave, and he mocked what he described as an economic strategy of asking them to come back.

Blakeman also contrasted Florida’s “no state income tax” with what he called “the highest taxes in the nation under Kathy Hochul, ” and he brought Mayor Zohran Mamdani into the argument by referencing a proposed “massive death tax hike. ” In his description, Mamdani would seek to start taxing inheritances as low as $750, 000 and take up to half of what families leave behind. The political point: the governor’s message of welcome is being challenged by the claim that prominent voices within New York’s political ecosystem are signaling higher tax burdens.

Culture-war proxy: Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy criticized the governor on X, calling her a “hypocrite” for “begging millionaires to return to New York” while saying the new mayor “despises millionaires and supports communism. ” After that, Kathy Hochul’s office responded on X with a post referencing an old scandal involving Portnoy and a screenshot showing New York has the highest number of SoulCycle locations. The exchange drew confusion and criticism from some social media users who questioned how SoulCycle locations relate to out-migration and the tax base debate.

Critical analysis: the policy message versus the political signal

Verified fact: Kathy Hochul is arguing that New York needs high earners to sustain social programs, while also acknowledging that lower-tax states are competing for the same people and businesses, and that remote work has altered the playing field.

Informed analysis: The governor’s public appeal is a tacit acknowledgment that mobility is now part of New York’s fiscal risk profile. That creates a communications problem as much as a budget problem: the state cannot credibly court high earners while the public debate is dominated by whether to increase their taxes, and while political opponents can point to mixed signals from prominent officials.

Informed analysis: The clash with a high-profile critic on social media illustrates another risk: when the central claim is that the tax base is “eroded, ” messaging discipline becomes part of economic governance. A response that reads as trolling can undercut the seriousness of the governor’s own warning about revenue pressures and interstate competition.

What accountability looks like now

Verified fact: Kathy Hochul said New York is competing with states with lower tax burdens, that remote work changed everything, and that New York needs high-net-worth taxpayers to support social programs because the tax base has “eroded. ” She also said, “We can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in. ”

Informed analysis: Those statements set a clear standard for accountability: the public should be able to see how New York will reconcile a push to retain and attract wealth with internal political demands to raise taxes on that same group. If the governor’s position is that the state can fund priorities with existing revenue, the next question is what policy choices will stabilize the base without intensifying the very competitive disadvantages she described.

For voters weighing competing narratives in an election year, the key test is consistency: whether kathy hochul can align the fiscal warning she delivered at the summit with a coherent, durable signal to residents and businesses deciding where to live and pay taxes.