From ‘jump on a bus’ to tax crackdowns: Blue states chase wealthy residents fleeing to red havens

By Fox News · Fox News

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul became the latest blue-state leader to lament the flight of wealthy tax-paying residents to Republican-led tax havens like Florida, Alaska, Wyoming and Tennessee, calling millionaires who stayed in the Empire State to fund its massive social services net "patriotic." With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring his jurisdiction a "free state" for transplants wishing to leave liberal policies and taxation behind, blue states like New York, Illinois and California are squeezing and at times pursuing natives who emigrate to financially greener pastures — while at the same time, some governors are blasting conservative voters as inauthentic neighbors and driving them out in the first place. Fox News Digital took a look back at taxing authorities and top officials in blue states that have pursued or criticized the very people they are trying to retain for taxation purposes – and those who aren’t simply urging them to return are finding ways to force continued collection. BRING THEM BACK FROM PALM BEACH Hochul, speaking during a Politico event this month, said "high-net-worth" people need to stay in New York to support the "generous social programs we want to have in our state." "There are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. OK, 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 you can bring back home, because our tax has been eroded." GRADUALLY, THEN SUDDENLY, BLUE STATE AMERICA IS HEADING FOR FINANCIAL DISASTER ‘JUMP ON A BUS’ Hochul has often criticized the most prominent New Yorker to flee to Palm Beach: President Donald Trump . At a 2022 rally for Rep. Pat Ryan, a moderate Democrat from Ulster County, Hochul trashed Republican-voting New Yorkers and urged them to do what she now wants to see reversed. BLUE STATE'S BILLIONAIRE EXODUS ABOUT TO GET MUCH WORSE IN 2026, INSIDER WARNS "And we are here to say that the era of Trump, and Zeldin and Molinaro, just jump on…