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Posted on 02/04/2022 6:57:15 AM PST by Enlightened1
Only a state with the motto “Live Free or Die” is freer than the Sunshine State.
That’s according to the nonprofit CATO Institute’s annual Freedom in the 50 States report, which compares states based on different aspects of autonomy and choice in key policy areas. The report uses hundreds of variables to gauge states on fiscal, regulatory and personal terms.
Overall, Florida came in second to New Hampshire in the 2021 ranking that used 2019 data to compare states.
The CATO Institute bills itself as a libertarian public policy think tank that promotes limited government, free markets and peace.
It highlighted the state’s lack of a personal income tax and warm weather as the pied-pipers of not just well-heeled retirees but also business professionals looking to make the most of their labor.
“Florida does especially well on economic freedom, and even more so on fiscal policy. Indeed, it is our top state on both,” the report said. “Regulatory policy is improved but mediocre compared with the fiscal side.”
Florida’s freedom metrics lagged due to heavy incarceration rates, onerous occupational licensing requirements, state-level health insurance mandates, and the cost of gun control laws on owners and dealers.
To make the state freer, CATO suggests Florida decentralize taxing and spending powers from counties to municipalities, reform its occupational licensing system to remove barriers of entry into careers, and enact criminal justice reforms.
While New Hampshire was this year’s freest state, nearby New York came in last.
For an example scroll down in this real estate ad that I am using only for an example and look at the projected property taxes if you paid the asking price of $800,000 for this 3,000 sq ft house. The rate is 2.2% per year and it comes to $1466 a month or $17,598 a year.
We could afford to buy the house, but being on a fixed income the property taxes would eat us alive. Freedom is not free in New Hampshire.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/662-4th-Range-Rd-Suncook-NH-03275/2066546719_zpid/
In Alabama where the tax rate is much lower you could pay $805,000 for the following 8,000 sq ft house and your property taxes if calculated on the purchase price and a rate of .32% a year would be only $220 a month or $2,640 a year.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1860-Goodwin-Dr-NW-Cullman-AL-35058/2067619660_zpid/
Freedom is still not free in Alabama, but it is a heck of a lot cheaper than New Hampshire.
Again I have no connection with either property they are being used only as examples of the difference in property tax rates.
Sorry italicized my own words.
I hate Florida’s landscape, I hate Florida’s weather. I LOVE Florida’s freedom under DeSantis. The DeSantis campaign that will win him the presidency is “have you had the no BS Covid policy of Florida in your state, have you had the economic freedoms of Floridians, have you had a proactive anti federal alien relocation program in your state, etc., etc., etc?”.
LOL!
That Alabama house is $825,000, not $805,000. I am having trouble this morning.
Being a resident of the Peoples Republic of Minnesota, I think the ranking at #38 is an overstatement. During the “pandemic” our Generalissimo Governor Walz managed to shut down churches even though Wal Marts were open. This assault on religious freedom was so egregious that the Lutherans and Catholics came together with a legal challenge to the Governors edict and eventually won. Crime in Minnesota especially in the Twin Cities is out of control with car jacking being done in broad daylight and in one case even caught in the background of a TV news report where the reporterette was commenting about rising crime in the area. The state of emergency declared by the Generalissimo is still in effect due largely to a flaw in the law that takes a 2/3 vote of the legislatures to end the emergency rather than a 2/3 vote to continue it after 30 days.
I have to laugh about the recommendation that Minnesota should allow liquor sales in grocery stores. Minnesota liquor laws were forged at the end of Prohibition and created a system where liquor is triple taxed. It only took 160 years after statehood to allow Sunday liquor sales and Minnesota is the only state in the union to continue with the Prohibition anachronism 3.2 beer.
North Woods is Maine.
North Carolina is not freer than South Carolina.
CATO is not liberal.
But perhaps they’re a little blind or foolish.
I agree...between the hurricanes, man eating sharks and alligators, water moccasins, mosquitoes big as cats 95 degree heat with 90 percent humidity 10 months out of the year, it’s a unforgiving place that no one should ever ever consider coming to....much less moving to.
It’s about freedom, not necessarily what is morally preferred by others. I agree with you overall though, it isn’t a 1 to 1 about places FR posters might like.
The show north woods law is New hampshire.
LOL! Texas is 21. ROTFLMAO. Come and Take It.
There was one big report in the last decade wherein MD was THE worst. Don’t recall if it was CATO but it was a very extensive report.
North Woods Law is an American reality television series that debuted on March 11, 2012, on the Animal Planet channel. Originally set in Maine, the show followed numerous game wardens of the Maine Warden Service.[1][2] In 2017, the show changed locations to New Hampshire, following members of the state’s Fish and Game Department.[3] The series was renewed for a sixteenth season, which began on June 20, 2021.
No one is free as long as you have that spy device in your pocket.
My state is number 6. I’ll take it.
Michigan #7?
Used to donate to CATO, but their approach to immigration and amnesty turned me off.
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