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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo —unwittingly, perhaps — recently starred in move-to-Florida ad.
Speaking at several events in New York in early February, Cuomo lamented that the Empire State’s revenue from income tax was $2.3 billion below projections. “That’s as serious as a heart attack,” Cuomo said, according to stories in Investors Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal.
Cuomo blamed the drop on President Trump’s 2017 tax law, and its caps in the deductibility of state and local taxes, or SALT, at $10,000. The beneficiary of New York’s budget shortfall, contends Cuomo, is the Sunshine State. He specifically mentioned Florida as an attractive option for New Yorkers unhappy with the change in the tax law, the Journal reports, adding that a “taxpayer in Florida would see no increase, or a decrease” under the GOP tax reform.
More pro-Florida news: In a separate Journal story several real estate brokers, mostly in the Miami and South Florida market, cite an influx of New York buyers or potential buyers of late. New Yorkers, brokers add in the story, are even replacing South America residents as the leading out-of-state target client in some cases.
Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis wasted little time in teeing up Cuomo’s comments.
“I’d like to thank Gov. Cuomo for admitting to the world what we already know to be true: People spend their money better than government does,” Patronis says in a statement, released Feb. 6 under the subject header "Gov. Andrew Cuomo Agrees Florida is Better."
“Early data show that there has been a surge in home purchases in our state by residents from high-tax states like New York," Patronis writes. "As a result, Florida had more people moving here in just one year than any other state. We couldn’t be happier to welcome new families to Florida. Thank you, Gov. Cuomo.”
Adds Patronis: “I invite Gov. Cuomo to come visit us here in the Sunshine State to understand why so many New Yorkers see Florida as a haven for free enterprise.”
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