Posted on 09/29/2015 5:40:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
So-called progressives love to talk about how their policies will create a workers' paradise. Why is it, then, day after day, month after month, year after year, people are fleeing liberal blue states for conservative red states?
New census data on where we live and where we moved to in 2014 shows that the top seven states with the biggest percentage increases in inbound migration from other states are, in order: North Dakota, Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Texas. All of these states are politically red, except Colorado, which is purple.
Meanwhile, the leading exodus states, in percentage terms, are: Alaska, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, New Mexico, New Jersey and Kansas. These states, except Alaska and Kansas, are blue.
The latest "Rich States, Poor States" document (which I co-author), published by the American Legislative Exchange Council, finds that nearly a net 1,000 people each day are leaving blue states and entering red states. This migration is changing the economic center of gravity in America -- shifting it relentlessly to the South and West.
Travis Brown, author of the indispensable book "How Money Walks," shows that two of the leading factors behind this movement of human capital are: 1) whether a state has a right-to-work law (half the states do), and 2) how high the top state income tax rate is. Nine states have no income tax, and they are creating jobs at twice the pace as high income-tax states.
Data from the Internal Revenue Service show a similar trend. Each year, the IRS issues a migration data report that examines how many tax filers (and dependents) changed their residencies and how much income was transported from one state to another. The numbers for the most recent year (tax filing year 2013) are gigantic and put the lie to the claim that interstate migration is too small to matter in terms of the wealth and economic opportunity in one state versus another.
In 2013, Florida gained $8.2 billion in adjusted gross income from new arrivals. Texas gained $5.9 billion. Five of the seven states with the biggest income gains -- Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington and Nevada -- have no income tax.
New York again was the big loser, with another 112,236 tax filers leaving and taking $5.2 billion with them. (So much for those TV ads trying to lure businesses into America's second-highest-taxed state with temporary tax breaks.) Illinois lost nearly 67,000 tax filers and $3.7 billion of income that it can no longer tax.
I've never met a Democrat who could come up with even a semi-plausible explanation for why families and businesses are getting out of blue states. They are leaving states with higher minimum wages, pro-union work rules, high taxes on the rich, generous welfare benefits, expansive regulations to "help" workers, green energy policies, etc. People are voting with their feet against these liberal policies.
When I debated New York Times columnist Paul Krugman this summer, I confronted him with this reality. His lame explanation for the steady migration from the liberal North to the conservative South was that "air conditioning" has made the South more livable. Americans are evidently moving because of the weather.
There are two glaring problems with this theory: California and North Dakota. During the decade ending in 2013, 1.4 million more Americans left California than moved into the once-Golden State. It's a good bet these California refugees didn't leave for more sunshine or better weather.
And if warm weather is what is attracting people to the South -- and surely there is some truth to that -- why did the coldest state outside Alaska -- North Dakota -- have the biggest population gain in percentage terms in the most recent year? The answer is that workers went to get jobs created by the Bakken Shale oil and gas boom.
By the way, California is one of the states richest in oil and natural gas, but its "green" politicians are regulating that industry out of business. So much for caring about working-class Americans.
The latest census and IRS data merely confirm what Americans can see every day with their own eyes. Red states are a magnet. There's a downside to this for sure. Conservatives have a legitimate gripe that when blue-staters relocate into prosperous red states they try to turn them blue. That's happened in New Hampshire, where Massachusetts transplants vote for the left-leaning policies they just fled.
So true. They came to Loudoun County by the trillions and first thing they did was go to court to shut down the IWLA range. They lost.
LIBs are malignancies on society. They are unwanted. They are a plague.
Unless they are willing to buy a pickup truck and a gun and put ranch dressing on everything don’t even think about moving here to Oklahoma.
They even hate themselves. They say man is the most evil species on earth. I was pondering this the other day and the potential for it to be anti-Christian.
Too funny. Here in northern Michigan we have the trucks and guns but turkey is the ranch dressing.
It is said that in the closing days and months of World War 2 in Europe that some of his Generals pleaded with him to seek Armistice Terms in order to save what they could of Germany. Hitler refused to even consider it saying, "If we go down, we will take Germany with us."
This now appears to be the attitude of both political Parties, well, actually both wings of the Democrat Party in Congress.
So, get ready for the collapse as both local and State Governments are too addicted to the "Federal Dollars" to make the necessary changes to remedy the situation. The only question left to be answered is when will the collapse occur?
This has had a big negative effect on my state. Virginia used to be reliably Republican. Now we have two Democrat Senators and Clinton’s Bag Man as Governor.
The liberal ‘rats are parasites that keep killing their new hosts and moving on to the next victim.
Not always. When I finally escape NY, I certainly won’t be bringing my liberalism with me (chiefly because I don’t have any to speak of). You’d LOVE to have me as a neighbor, I promise.
Regards,
I love snow but thought NH was just a little less liberal than VT where I lived for a bit before it crashed morally. Come to think of it, liberalism is moral decadence. Have to alert them by giving them a new label. Even progressive is a cover for moral decadence.
Arizona DOES have a state income tax.
“And bringing with them the bad ideas that wrecked the places from whence they are fleeing.”
This is the reason North Carolina has shifted from reliably red to a swing state. Immigration of liberal whites and illegals from outside the US has changed the politics.
Couldn't agree more...the commandment from Jesus Christ to 'love thy neighbor' is one I have struggled with for years.
Don't you KNOW these folks are called IMMIGRANTS now???
HE did NOT say...
'subsidize thy neighbor'
You Libs just stay out of Texas!
For good Conservatives, WELCOME! You might enjoy my profile page with some interesting Texas history, animals, etc.
“Unfortunately, they always bring their liberalism with them.”
That’s usually true.
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