You can’t make this stuff up. New York Governor Kathy Hochul spent years waving goodbye to the millionaires and high earners bolting her high-tax hellhole like rats off a sinking ship. She mocked them, told them they didn’t belong, and pushed the very policies that sent them packing to Florida and Texas. Now, just a few years later, she’s on her knees begging those same rich folks to drag their wallets back to Albany so she can keep the socialist spending machine humming. This isn’t leadership—it’s the cold, hard slap of reality hitting a big-government addict square in the face when the gravy train starts running on empty.
The 2022 Goodbye Wave: Hochul’s ‘Jump on a Bus’ Special
Back in August 2022, during her reelection fight, Hochul took the stage and unloaded on anyone who didn’t toe the Democrat line. She singled out Republicans and told them straight up: jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. Get out of town. Because you don’t represent our values. It wasn’t subtle. She was talking to the productive class—the earners, the job creators, the ones whose taxes bankroll her endless handouts. And plenty listened. Why stay in a state that treats you like a walking ATM while jacking up income taxes to the moon and piling on regulations that choke businesses?
That attitude defined her early days in office. She embraced the soak-the-rich playbook, hiking rates on high earners to feed bloated budgets for “generous social programs.” The message was clear: We don’t need you if you won’t play ball. Millionaires? See ya later. The exodus kicked into high gear, with over 125,000 New Yorkers heading to Florida alone in recent years, hauling nearly $14 billion in adjusted gross income with them. Top destinations? Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Broward—places with no state income tax and actual sanity.
The 2026 Begging Session: Suddenly, the Rich Are ‘Patriotic’
Fast-forward to this week, March 2026, and the tune has flipped harder than a bad pancake. Speaking at a Politico summit in Albany, Hochul dropped the mask. She admitted she needs high-net-worth people to prop up the state’s “generous social programs.” She praised a few “patriotic millionaires” who cut her checks but then dropped the real plea: go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded.
🚨BREAKING: New York Governor Kathy Hochul is facing BACKLASH after telling Republicans to “jump on a bus and head down to Florida” not long ago. Now, she’s urging wealthy New Yorkers to come back to New York. pic.twitter.com/GzsoUtxHlq
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) March 19, 2026
This wasn’t some offhand remark. It came as she’s fending off pressure from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the far-left crew demanding even steeper tax hikes on anyone making serious money. Hochul’s FY2027 budget clocks in around $260 billion with no new income tax increases—she’s trying to look responsible ahead of her reelection. But the cracks are showing. She knows the top 1 percent—those income millionaires—foot the bill for 41 to 45 percent of all personal income taxes. Lose them, and the whole house of cards wobbles.
The Numbers That Slapped Reality Into Her Face
Here’s where the math gets brutal. New York’s top earners don’t just pay a lot—they carry the load. The top 1 percent generate about 40 percent or more of the state’s income tax haul, funding everything from massive welfare expansions to green-energy fantasies and union giveaways. Meanwhile, the state’s share of America’s millionaires has been shrinking for years, from 12.7 percent in 2010 down to 8.7 percent by 2022, with the bleed continuing. Even with some gains in raw millionaire counts by 2024, the high-income migration to no-tax havens like Florida and Texas has stripped billions from the revenue stream.
Hochul’s own budget math reveals the panic. She’s sitting on $14.6 billion in reserves, but out-year gaps are looming—$6 billion for 2028, climbing higher. Wall Street bonuses and high-earner payments gave her a temporary revenue bump this year, but she can’t hide the erosion anymore. The same policies that chased people out—sky-high taxes, crime, costs—now threaten the programs she built her career on. You can’t fund endless spending when the golden geese fly south. Reality didn’t just slap her; it body-slammed the entire blue-state model.
Then came the most devastating exchange of the day.
Rep. Elise Stefanik confronted her own governor, Kathy Hochul, and held nothing back.
Hochul was squirming with no where to hide. She just had to take it.
“Governor Hochul, on your first day in office, you signed Executive… pic.twitter.com/RV7ulCY9aK
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) June 12, 2025
America First Verdict: Tax-and-Spend Socialism Always Collapses Under Its Own Weight
This about-face isn’t humility—it’s desperation. Hochul chased away the wealth creators with “get out of town” arrogance, and now she’s shocked the tax base followed them to red states that actually reward success. Florida and Texas don’t beg; they boom because they keep taxes low and government lean. New York? It’s a cautionary tale of what happens when you treat productive citizens like captives instead of partners.
From an America First perspective, the fix is obvious and overdue: Slash the spending bloat, cut taxes across the board, and stop punishing success. Let people and businesses keep more of what they earn, and watch the revenue grow without the groveling. Hochul’s flip-flop proves the blue-state dream is dead—buried under debt, deficits, and departing millionaires. New Yorkers deserve leaders who build an economy that works for everyone, not just the political class. The rest of America is watching: high taxes drive out the rich, erode the base, and leave everyone poorer. Time to learn the lesson before it’s too late.