Posted on 06/26/2015 4:51:30 AM PDT by HomerBohn
According to a new CNBC analysis, Americans are leaving high-tax states in droves. By looking at a combination of tax figures and moving company records, the financial channel has determined that states with the highest taxes are also seeing the biggest net migration out of town.
CNBC found that states like Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts have seen more people migrate away over the last decade than they have been able to replace. These high-tax states are losing their population to states where Americans can keep more of what they earn.
Connecticut taxpayers, for example, paid an average of $4,431, according to data from the Federation of Tax Administrators, a group that represent state tax officials. Last year, United Van Lines and Atlas Van Lines, the two largest movers in the U.S., moved 3,212 households out of state and 2,368 moves inbound. That means 55 percent of all moves left the state, for a net outbound flow of 58 percent.
Over the last decade, the two companies reported 36,837 moves outbound to 30,426 inbound, for a net outbound flow of 55 percent. The analysts admit that the records only reflect the use of the top two national moving companies. They also admit that some high-tax states – Vermont and Alaska, for instance – do not fit the larger pattern. Even so, the data speaks volumes and should encourage researchers to expand this study to encompass the full picture of population shift. It would be very interesting to know if what CNBC found will hold up to comprehensive scrutiny, because it could have a remarkable effect on policy going forward.
If state leaders realize that they are driving away their economy by taxing their citizens too stiffly, it could trigger a major backlash. We could see dyed-in-the-wool liberals forced to abandon their ever-increasing push for higher taxes. Well, one can dream, right?
The truth is that we really need no such study. Americans will go where they sense the greatest economic opportunity. Taxes are a hindrance to that opportunity, no matter how you slice it.
Why do you think do many successful Britons wind up migrating to the United States? Simply, they don’t want the Queen to chip away at their wealth until there’s almost nothing left. It’s not that they have no sense of social responsibility; many of these men and women give millions to charity. It’s just that they don’t want their government to decide for them how much of their wealth they must abandon.
As Hillary Clinton begins her campaign for “revenue enhancements,” Americans should ponder what higher taxes would mean for the country. In a globalized economy, is it possible that we might see mass migration out of the United States? Could it be that individuals and companies will see better opportunities elsewhere? Of course. It’s already happening under Obama.
People don’t get rich because they are stupid. They aren’t going to pass up millions and millions of dollars out of some vague sense of patriotism. They just aren’t. We’ll be left with what, then? A country filled with only those citizens who are unwilling to take a risk? A country filled only with those who don’t make enough money to worry about it? What’s that going to look like in fifty years? Who is going to pay for all of these infrastructure improvements when the population is almost wholly dependent on the government?
When that day comes, it’ll be a great day for Democrats. For everyone else, it will be the end of America as we know it.
With traitors like John Roberts heading up the lopsided Supreme Court, this nation hasn't got a chance in hell.
Yeah. I know. I’m a Realtor in VA. They’re coming down here in “droves”. Whining about the taxes up north. Their voting habits are staying the same, by the way.
In the 40 years I’ve lived in Fairfax County VA, the population has doubled and it has switched from conservative Republican to leftwing Democrat government. No matter how much local taxes are increased there’s never enough money to meet the demands of the school system.
Beware. These are the same people who accepted state income tax and voted for the politicians who raised their taxes so high.
First thing people seem to want to do is make the new home like their old one (In & Out Burger and Trader Joes are in Texas now, the Californians couldn’t do without either one).
Result? Perhaps “ghetto states”, mostly in the north ..... similar to the ghetto cities run by Dems/Progs/Libs/Leftists.
Then they start voting for Democrats wherever they end up and destroy their new homes as well.
Once in a while, I cruise over to DU and see what’s the topic du jour. Besides an internecine fight between Shrillary and Bernie, there was a long thread about how they are being priced out of living in their “revered” blue cities and states. Housing and taxes are eating them alive, so they say.
They are depressed and dismayed that in order to survive financially, they may have no recourse but to move to a “redneck or flyover state”. They made it sound like a fate worse than death.
I read a few dozen replies (about all I could take in one sitting) and not one person connected the dots as to why the cost of living in decidedly liberal areas is through the roof, while it is reasonable in decidedly conservative areas.
The consensus was that they were screwed because the rich weren’t paying their fair share.
At some point, when there aren’t any more rich people living in their state and they are the ones required to cough up even more to fill the gap, maybe they’ll see the light. But I sincerely doubt it.
More people have migrated from N.J. than we were able to replace? Actually we have probably had a net gain (bad choice of words) with the illegals that have come here.
Next on the liberal agenda, one must have proper government issued “papers” to cross state borders. Not so for incoming at international borders.
Why do you think they passed FATCA? Your assets and earning power are state property, Citizen, and don't dare to think otherwise.
Vicious Cycle: these people fleeing taxes will move to a low tax state and vote there to increase taxes, meanwhile those left in the state they left will have to pay more taxes to make of for the loss of revenue by those who fled.
Those fleeing to other states bring all there liberal democrat baggage with them screwing up the entire country.
New Hampshire is a great example.
That's a significant observation. People who move by an established moving company would be established and have financial resources. Those moving without them would more likely be those without resources and thus be a drain on the state's economy.
I was brought up in CT, just north of Danbury. It was an okay place to grow up. When I return, it's upsetting. That area and huge swaths of CT have become third world hellholes.
For years, Colorado has had “Don’t Californicate Colorado stickers”.
Given that they now have legal pot and the world’s most limp-wristed governor, it was apparently too little, too late.
Take heart, albie. We moved from NJ to VA and took our conservative views with us.
Our real estate taxes were $8,000, and here’s some irony:
When the Dems were in charge we would get about 1200 dollars in a check as rebate. When Christie became Gov, he decided that the township should get the money as payment toward our local taxes. Well, guess what, taxes in the township ROSE. It was an insult.
I won’t mention here that at the same time jobs in NJ were non existent. Moved here four years ago, and love it. And we are still conservatives.
It's always "for the children." I haven't voted for a tax increase since I started voting, almost 20 years now. The gummint pisses away enough money at every level they don't need anymore. Of course, the sheeple just keep voting themselves less money.
We live in the western part of N.J. in Belvidere. The area has always been conservative but people from east of us are moving in & changing the area. Pretty soon we will be a progg area as us older people die off. This is called “progress”.
That's a common issue anywhere I've lived ... and I've lived in CT, OH & now CO. It's always portrayed as being about the children, state lotteries, gambling casinos, here in CO towns allowing pot shops point out the taxes generated will fund local schools. It's a given that in most communities out of every property tax dollar generated at least 60 cents goes to local schools. Schools expand programs and demand more dollars ... rarely if ever is anything cut ... gov't at the state, and particularly at the federal level operate much the same way.
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