Don't get me wrong; I've lived in my house at the same location for over 40 years and I love my small corner of the vineyard. I've been blessed beyond expectation. But New York has reshuffled the deck over the years, and not for the better. I'm not Albert Einstein, but like others, I've come to realize NYS is a poor place to live in retirement. The population has been steadily decreasing for decades (especially upstate), and the reason why is pretty clear: NYS owns the title to being the worst state to live and retire in; it's #50 out of 50 United States and considering how far gone California is, that fact is pretty sad.
There are numerous websites that will confirm my words. Forbes, Kipplingers and Freedominthe50states are just some sources that reinforce my words. It's so bad NY has become #1 in population loss; about 50,000 people booked out of NYS last year. (That's just one year!) Andrew Cuomo would have us believe it's because of the weather. If he had only used the word climate instead of weather, he'd have been right. Andy baby, it's not the weather, it's the climate. The tax climate. The anti-gun climate. The pro-choice abortion climate. And so on ... You even have the brass balls to say I and others like me are not even welcome in this state. Yeah, vaffanculo, Mr. Cuomo.
And that's the problem when people leave. Not only do they leave a hole when they leave (NY is scheduled to lose 2 US Congressional seats after the 2020 census), they take their money with them. Often, that's a lifetime accumulation of money, and when they go, that is money that is not going to be spent or taxed in NYS anymore. The real hit is the loss of money because that means those that remain are going to pay more in taxes, not less.
It's not conservative policies that are driving up NY taxes, it's liberal policies. It's not conservative policies that drive people out of NYS, it's liberal policies. And of course, conservatives don't run NYS, liberals do. And worse, they don't have a clue as to a solution. As politicians tend to do when the hooey hits the fan, they start pointing fingers and blaming others.
In Andrew Cuomo's case, he is now blaming Donald Trump's tax cuts for the almost $3 billion shortfall in the budget. This is, of course patent bullshit. It's not Donald Trump, Mr. Governor. It's you. After decades of big tax and big spend policies, after years of 3 men in a room hacking out budget compromises, the seeds you have sowed have grown. And what a miserable crop they turned out to be. Not only do we pay the highest sales tax rate in Upstate, but we pay high income and property taxes on top of that, and yes - you're responsible in part because you force the local schools and municipalities to tax the shit out of us for your unfunded mandates.
What's more, I thought you and your ilk said Trump's tax cuts benefited the rich. Why, if they truly did, that's more incentive to stay here, not leave. Which is it? The tax cuts hurt NY by letting the rich pay less in taxes ... or the other way around? Do rich people have an incentive to stay here by paying less, or ... Just which way is it, Andrew?
Now it's even worse. Now you have complete 1 party control in NYS and this is not going to end well. Yeah, now Carl 'Montel Williams' Heastie, Andrea 'Moms Mabley' Stewart-Cousins and Andy 'Kaufman' Cuomo are going to sit in the room and now there's absolutely nothing stopping you. When great comedians like those get together, you would think the jokes are going to be pretty good. When the curtain next month lifts, I'm thinking the joke is going to be on us ... again.
So, Uncle Andy, you have a problem: Your current budget is doing down faster than Rosie O'Donnell on a see-saw. You need more revenue, and I'm only curious as to where you are going to get it. Now you've come to realize that you can't afford to lose rich people anymore, because their small numbers pay the lions share of taxes already. Every once in a while you let your guard down and say what you really think; we saw that already with your 'America was never that great' quote. But your latest quip, God forbid the rich leave was really telling. I'm sorry to say, you're a little late already. They've been setting sail for years now. If you don't believe me, just ask Tom Golisano, the Paychex billionaire and (former) NYS resident. He left over 10 years ago and wrote a nice essay about his reasons why. I couldn't find it on the web again, so I'll just post this syracuse.com article from 10 years ago. (He's saving almost $14,000/day just by domiciling outside NYS; thank God he's still donating to his charities here like his Children's Hospital) ...
It's tough to leave a place you've lived at for a long time. It's tough to pull up roots and leave your friends and family behind. Yes, we'll be back from time to time. But please know and understand that the liberal policies stemming from downstate control of upstate for decades ... are the primary reason ~50,000 people chose to leave NYS last year.
God forbid if you ever make it to the White House, Andrew. I don't know where to move should a national tragedy like that occur.
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