Democratic States on Tax-Raising Bataan Death March

By Stephen Moore | Tuesday, February 3, 2026

By 2026, the Democratic Party has transformed from a fiscal restraint advocate into a tax-and-spend parody of itself. Once the party framed raising taxes as a last resort, its leftwing base now views increased taxation as a badge of honor.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently declared he had no choice but to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations because agency budget efficiencies yielded insufficient savings. New York City spends more per capita than any other major city in the country, yet Mamdani insists there is no path to fiscal restraint.

At least Mamdani campaigned as a socialist. The Manhattanites are receiving exactly what they voted for.

However, two newly elected Democratic governors—Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia—are accelerating tax hikes with alarming speed. In her first weeks in office, Sherrill called for a 4.2-cents-per-gallon gas tax increase, a corporate tax to fund transit, a new millionaire mansion tax, and nicotine and sports betting taxes. New Jersey is already one of the nation’s five highest-tax states.

Sherrill, an anti-tax advocate compared to her Virginia counterpart, has endorsed numerous revenue-raising measures in early governance. But Spanberger has rapidly expanded her agenda, including additional local sales taxes across all counties and cities, a personal property tax on electric leaf blowers and landscaping equipment, delivery taxes targeting Amazon, Uber Eats, FedEx, and UPS orders in Northern Virginia, counseling fees for those stressed by new taxes, increased car taxes and highway use fees, higher hotel taxes in Arlington, and statewide speed cameras.

The Democrats remain immune to the reality that Americans are fleeing high-tax states. California, New York, and New Jersey have lost nearly 4 million net residents to low-tax states over the past decade. Most of the winning states—such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and the Carolinas—are cutting taxes rather than raising them.

Florida alone has gained $1 trillion in cumulative income from high-tax state refugees who relocated out of blue states. Many now pay their mortgages simply by saving on taxes after moving to low-tax areas.

Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children.