Governor Andrew Cuomo is begging wealthy New Yorkers to come back to the city, after many fled the metropolis due to crime and the coronavirus.

Many rich New Yorkers left the Big Apple during the coronavirus outbreak, running to second homes in the Hamptons or other areas, abandoning their expensive apartments in downtown. With the rates of the disease still not coming down, many of them are deciding to stay out of the city, which could create serious economic ramifications in the future.

Governor Cuomo begged the ex-New Yorkers to return from their “Hamptons homes” in a press conference on Tuesday. “I talk to them literally every day. I say, ‘when are you coming back? I’ll buy you a drink. I’ll cook,'” Cuomo told the press.

“They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking, if I stay there, they pay a lower income tax because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge. So, that would be a bad place if we had to go there,” Cuomo continued.

In fact, these New Yorkers may be discouraged into coming back, with a new bill that would suggest these high earners are taxed even more to cover the $30 billion hole left by the coronavirus outbreak. Cuomo is strongly against this.

“A single per cent of New York’s population pays half of the state’s taxes and they’re the most mobile people on the globe,” he argued.

“If they don’t make this bill right, frankly, they shouldn’t pass it because it will be the last bill. If this bill does not have funding for state and local government you will see a real recession, not just in New York but across the country [by] forcing state and local governments to lay off people,” he continued.

Then again, the coronavirus may have simply been the kicker in a recent string of problems in the city. Rocketing violent crime rates are another factor that have discouraged the super rich from staying in the Big Apple. The Upper East Side, a very wealthy section of town, has seen 27 robberies over the past 4 weeks, a 286% increase over last year.

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This is a far more permanent problem, and one that won’t be fixed with buying people a drink.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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