[ncountylee]

The Globe can't seem to understand the real reason is the brutal tax system in New England. Connect the dots.

[MeanWestTexan]

Yep. Any whose source of wealth is an "income" is a fool to live in NE.

Great place for established wealthy, not so for those starting out.

Remember, Rockerfeller was quoted favoring the income tax because "it would keep the damn doctors and lawyers out of [his] neighborhood."

[newguy357]

The Globe can't seem to understand the real reason is the brutal tax system in New England. Connect the dots.

That's part of it, but it goes much deeper. I made the mistake of taking a job in Boston after I graduated (youthful indiscretion, thinking the career-related prestige would be worth it). I'm leaving soon. While taxes are an annoyance, the real reason I'm leaving is the oppressive philosophy here. Women "joke" about how men are stupid, annoying, and should be the ones to have to have babies. Schools teach first graders about gay sex. People live together for years before getting married, if they do at all, and mock "old-fashioned" ideals. Homosexuality is celebrated. Just a couple days ago I had to walk by Boston Common, and there was a gay and anti-war rally. That is almost a daily event here. Weirdos exist in all parts of the world, but here the difference is that it pervades society. Weirdos are normal here. The taxes are annoying but I'm leaving because I have come to the conclusion that it is immoral for me to stay here, which would implicitly support them economically. I would pay higher taxes elsewhere to not support that.

[HostileTerritory]

Taxes in Massachusetts are lower as a share of income than in many of the states people are moving to, such as Georgia and North Carolina. Taxes in New Hampshire are among the lowest in the country. Some states, like Utah and Idaho, have much higher taxes.

It's the cost of living combined with the long winters that drives people elsewhere. If housing were cheaper, a lot of people I know would have stayed instead of moving to North Carolina.

[pleikumud]

The Boston Globe is owned by the N.Y. Times = anti-American, treasonous, working to increase the number of American soldiers killed in the war on terrorism.

[GOP_1900AD]

Although technically part of the Sun Belt, California faces the same type of future. The newly wed and the nearly dead, with seas of low paid service workers. Big business is disinvesting as we speak.

[maine-iac7]

"``We've constantly been talking about this trend since the 1990s"....................................
A lot longer than that... I graduated in Maine in the early 1950's. My town's population was hovering @ 6,000. It still is.


you posted: "The Globe can't seem to understand the real reason is the brutal tax system in New England. Connect the dots."

Maine is almost the highest taxed state - yet almost bottom on the per-capita income.

Gee, why are young folk still leaving???

(I took off after graduation and lived all over the country for the next quarter century before coming back...a 'roots' thing. But I see that if my grandkids, now graduating and in college, want to be more than a bagger or checkout clerk, they will look elsewhere...and the state has never addressed this with less punishing laws, for one example, - the workers comp insurance in this state is insane. It's a joke in the boardrooms across the country. Why should businesses locate here?)