Why do you live in New York?
It’s a question I get all the time from friends and family who permanently left the Empire State for warmer, greener pastures with lower taxes and a higher quality of living.
New York City Mayoral candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo famously blamed bad weather for the mass exodus of people who decided they had enough of living in the People’s Republic of New York.
Back in September 2018 Cuomo claimed the main reason why people fled for Florida and warmer climates: sunshine and fishing.
“They want to fish. They want warm weather,” Cuomo said to reporters after addressing the Business Council of New York State.
To his credit, Cuomo is only partially correct.
Who wouldn’t want to live amongst palm trees, sandy beaches, and warm temperatures? Right now the average temperature in Fort Meyers, Florida for the month of March is 78-degrees.
Here in Brookhaven? 49-degrees for the same time period.
Failed politicians miss the mark by blaming bad weather as the main reason why people leave New York State. That’s just one small factor that almost serves as an added bonus for people who have the means and heart to leave for good. Great for them.
One party rule in New York has led to record high taxes, out of control government spending, less money in our pockets, and legislation pushed by radical progressives that make our communities and streets less safe.
Think about your income for a moment. The moment you move to Texas or Florida, two of eight states in the union that do not levy state income taxes, your family’s income automatically increases by roughly ten-percent.
That means more money in your pocket and less in the hands of politicians who didn’t meet a dollar they don’t want to spend.
I’ll bet my South Shore Press paycheck that Albany politicians are going to propose a budget way bigger than the 2025 one that totals $257 billion that is supposed to serve the 19.8 million people across New York.
Compare that bloated bureaucracy to the State of Florida budget of $115.6 billion for the Sunshine State’s 23.4 million people.
Let that sink in: there’s far more people in Florida and their state budget is far less than New York State, where less people live.
The weather is worse here, taxes are higher here, the quality of life is worse here, and crime is worse here. So then why do we stay?
Those of us with young kids feel trapped here. We can’t leave. My wife and I still have three young kids at home, ages two, five, and seven. Our two oldest boys are in school. Most of our family live within a few miles of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
We stay in a state that coddles criminals, rewards illegal immigrants, and punishes hard working taxpayers, solely because we don’t want to rip our young kids away from their remaining family here.
It’s no way to live.
That leaves us with three options. 1) Stay and suffer. 2) Leave for states like Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, or Florida. 3) Start a statewide revolution by returning checks and balances to Albany by electing a Republican Governor and State Senate in 2026.
That’s it. Those are the only choices.
If we don’t accomplish the goal set forth in Option #3, then we are down to two options for the rest of our natural lives.
Stay and suffer or leave.
As Morgan Freeman’s character “Red’ in Shawshank Redemption famously said “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Those of us stuck here are institutionalized to grin and bear it, no different than his prison character who fears leaving the comfortable lifestyle he built within the walls of a horrific prison.
Welcome to New York.