On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) said that New York City can’t raise taxes because they’re losing population, as are blue states and cities where “taxes are too high,” and “people are moving to low-tax states like Florida and Texas and Tennessee and other states. Now, I disagree with their policies, but we have to figure out how to make it attractive.” Suozzi also stated that “since we lost the state and local tax deduction, which is a body blow to New York and other high-tax states, we’re continuing to lose population from places like New York, New Jersey, Illinois.”
Suozzi said, “I totally disagree with Mamdani. He’s smart, he’s charismatic, he’s wrong. I disagree with him. We can’t raise taxes in New York City. People are leaving New York City as it is. And in blue states and cities throughout the country, we have — our taxes are too high, we’re losing population. The 2030 Census, we’re going to see [fewer] Democratic congressional seats, [fewer] Democratic electoral votes throughout the country. The blue wall will no longer exist because people are moving to low-tax states like Florida and Texas and Tennessee and other states. Now, I disagree with their policies, but we have to figure out how to make it attractive.”
Co-host Becky Quick then said, “When we bring people in here to talk about New York City and whether they’re losing population or not, they’ll say, no, no, we’re back. It’s not as bad as it was [in] 2019. But you brought up a really interesting fact about population since the ’60s.”
Suozzi responded, “Yeah, when I was born in 1962 — I’m 62 years old, I’ll be 63 later this year — there were 45 members of Congress from New York state. Today, there [are] 26 members of Congress from New York state. And it’s going to go down in the next Census unless we figure out how to reverse this trend, because since we lost the state and local tax deduction, which is a body blow to New York and other high-tax states, we’re continuing to lose population from places like New York, New Jersey, Illinois.”
Quick then cut in to say, “Relative to what you see with the population growth in other parts of the country, which is how Congress is based.” Suozzi responded, “Correct.”
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