Raise Taxes, Lose People

Perhaps I'm preaching to the choir with this post, but truths bear repeating in this age of near-universal lies. John Hinderaker, senior contributor at Power Line and President of the Center of the American Experiment, writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, about Minnesota's less-than-stellar economy.

Over the last 15 years, Minnesota has been average with regard to economic growth; below average with respect to private-sector productivity; 30th among the states in per-capita income growth, and 28th in the rate of job creation.

Similarly, the Twin Cities metropolitan area ranks average or below average among the nation’s 15 major metropolitan areas in rates of economic growth and job creation.

With respect to an alarming number of leading indicators, Minnesota’s current performance points toward below-average prosperity in the future.

Every year, thousands of households — on net — leave Minnesota for other states, overwhelmingly for lower-tax states. In 2014, the most recent year for which Internal Revenue Service data are available, those households took with them — again on a net basis, subtracting those who arrived from those who left — $980 million in income. The Census Bureau’s latest migration data, issued in March, indicates that the exodus from Minnesota accelerated in 2015.

Lefty Garrison Keillor oversold Lake Wobegon; Minnesota isn't above average. High tax states like Minnesota lose jobs, and then population, to low tax states like Texas. It even happens in high tax California which has compensating attractions Minnesota lacks.