The Governor From Palm Beach
13th December 2011
Will the last one left turn out the lights?
The last time a Democratic governor of New York raised taxes on “millionaires,” the job-creators voted with their feet. Rush Limbaugh and Thomas Golisano moved to Florida. Glenn Beck moved to Texas. Stephen Schwarzman decamped to Paris.
Trying to grasp why the current governor, Andrew Cuomo, would want to repeat this pattern, I took a look at the New York State campaign finance filings for his campaign. The first big gift that comes up is $25,000 from S. Daniel Abraham of Palm Beach, whose billions come from the Slim-Fast diet drink. Why shouldn’t Mr. Abraham fund Mr. Cuomo’s campaign? It’s good, after all, for the economy in Palm Beach and in the rest of Florida, where there is no state income tax at all.