Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York told Fox News host Bill Hemmer on Monday he opposed tax increases in his state but wanted to see higher federal tax rates.
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of New York City has been running on left-wing policies, including establishing government-run grocery stores, free child care, and free use of transit buses, while also calling for increasing taxes on predominantly white and wealthy neighborhoods of the Big Apple to fund those programs. Hemmer asked Suozzi about former President Barack Obama declining to endorse Mamdani, leading Suozzi, who said he “fundamentally” disagrees with Mamdani’s proposals, to criticize the self-described Democratic socialist mayoral candidate.
“I think that we have to look at the fact that Mamdani, again, like President Trump, is a charismatic person and effective campaigner and he knows how to use social media and he’s very intelligent and he’s tapped into this anxiety people have about their finances, the same as President Trump has,” Suozzi, who announced he was backing former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday, said. “The problem is his solutions, raise taxes in New York, raise the minimum wage in New York are bad ideas because New York is not competitive with the rest of the country.”
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“I’m all for raising taxes on wealthy people, I’m all for raising the minimum wage in our country, but let’s not make it just New York where we are chasing businesses and individuals out of our state,” Suozzi continued. “When I was born, there were 40-some-odd members of Congress from New York State. Today, there’s 26 members of Congress from New York State, and it’s going to go down in the next census. Why? Florida and Texas are growing. Places like New York are not growing.”
Hemmer questioned whether tax increases in New York wouldn’t increase the number of people leaving the state.
“I only support it at the national level. I wouldn’t support at the local level because people are leaving our state,” Suozzi said. “I don’t want someone to say I’m moving to Florida or Texas because I can have lower taxes there. Wherever you go in the country, I’m all for you paying higher taxes anywhere in the country.”
“I don’t think America understands this. Our focus has been on the flight out of California going back to 2020,” Hemmer responded. “New York State has led the country in those who have moved out of the Empire State. You can’t continue to afford this trend.”
During his time as Nassau County executive, Suozzi raised taxes by $200 million, according to PolitiFact.
“Two-Faced Tom Suozzi finally said the quiet part out loud: He wants you to pay higher taxes. Suozzi is hopelessly out of touch and soon to be out of a job,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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