State senator wants to fight Trump by withholding taxes, proposes New York secede to Canada

One New York Democrat is thinking “outside of the box” in a bizarre response to the incoming Trump administration.

State Sen. Liz Krueger is worried about President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office and has suggested an extreme idea in response to some of his proposed policies, such as a mass deportation plan that is supported by many voters who catapulted him to an election victory earlier this month.

“Left-leaning legislators have unsuccessfully pressed for a December special session to pass measures that are aimed at protecting undocumented people and LGBTQ+ New Yorkers,” Politico reported this week, noting “how difficult it will be for Democrats to gain leverage and Trump-proof New York.”

But Krueger, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has an idea.

“It’s not unreasonable to think outside of the box,” she said, suggesting the state withholds more than $300 billion in federal taxes.

This is in addition to the Manhattan Democrat’s previously announced suggestion that liberal states in the Northeast could secede from the U.S. and join Canada – though it is not clear what Canada would think of the idea.

According to Politico, about $85 billion of New York’s $239 billion budget comes from Washington and the state sends back about $362 billion in tax revenue.

“We’re talking a lot of money,” Krueger said. “We’re talking money we couldn’t possibly replace unless we started sending the feds a lot less money.”

“Trump received 43 percent in New York, the highest vote share for a Republican in more than 30 years,” the outlet noted. “Post-Covid, voters have become restive over the cost of living and concerns over crime — issues that helped the GOP this cycle.”

Krueger floated the secession idea back before the election and Trump’s epic victory.

“I was trying to come up with solutions, and I know that Canada has basically said, ‘Yeah, we’re not letting you all in if he wins,'” she told City & State back in September, referencing those who threatened to move to Canada if Trump won.

“As individuals, they basically made it clear. But that’s why I thought, ‘Oh, why do I have to leave this country? I love this country, and if Trump wins a second term, it’s not actually my fault or people in New York,'” she continued.

“So I thought I would suggest to Canada that instead of us all trying to illegally cross the border at night without them noticing, which is pretty hard because there’s a lot of us, that they should instead agree to let us be the southeast province, a new province of Canada, and I offered, even though I hadn’t gotten agreement from other states yet, that I thought New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, would combine and be a great new province as the southeast province of Canada,” the Democrat explained.

“We have land bridges. We have the Peace Bridge from Buffalo. Basically, everybody in these states are progressive Democrats. We would fit in pretty well with the political philosophy of at least most of the Canadian elected officials,” Krueger said.

Needless to say, the state senator’s ideas of seceding and withholding tax revenue sparked major backlash on social media.

Frieda Powers

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