RealClearPolitics has an excellent
article by Stephen Moore describing the unintended consequences of the high tax rates in five states: California, Connecticut, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. See what he writes:
The wealthy are fleeing these five states. The new United Van Lines data were just released that are a good proxy for where Americans are moving to and from. Guess what four states had the highest percentage of leavers in 2018: 1) New Jersey, 2) Illinois, 3) Connecticut and 4) New York. Even California had more Americans pack up and leave than enter.
Remember those using a moving service like United are, on the whole, the more affluent movers. The poor pack stuff in their car or maybe a
U-Haul trailer. The middle class likely rent a truck like the one I drove cross country in 1976 as an impecunious young academic.
If the four states of the Apocalypse -- Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York -- do not reverse their taxing ways and choose to keep making things worse, these once very rich and prosperous states will see thousands more rich taxpayers leave. The politicians in these four states just don't seem to understand math. A soak-the-rich tax rate of 8 percent, 10 percent or even 13 percent on income of zero yields zero income when the wealthy leave the state.
It doesn’t hurt that two of the states with no state income taxes - FL and TX - are also in the sun belt which has to look attractive during this extra-chilly winter. Meanwhile the
ZeroHedge site
reports people are leaving Los Angeles and moving to Henderson, near Las Vegas, in another no tax state - NV.
