Conservatives constantly advocate for cutting taxes, citing tax flight is the immediate response. While this may be true for businesses, economists have found it to be a myth when it comes to residents. So far, the effects of France's new millionaire tax and California's new taxes on the wealthy have been negligible to nonexistant. HOWEVER, raising taxes on the rich substantially increases revenue to provide key services to the population. Here are the main arguments from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:. You can find the details and numbers there. Additionally, Stanford and Princeton University have done thorough studies to confirm this. It is true that SOME residents do leave states based on tax burden particularly when they retire. However, the highest income earners are unlikely to migrate due to taxes. The overall net loss of out-migration due to taxes is but a fraction of the income gained to the state.
You're wrong... I have watched it first hand and done it. I maintain a house in Huntington Beach, but it's my vacation home now. http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_71.htm http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/18/bill-maher-threatens-leave-california-due-high-tax/ It's already happened. The traffic is far lighter and has been since the Liberals took total control and ran up the taxes.
You haven't refuted the numbers nor have you proven that migration out of california is due to taxes. California's out migration is due to impossible housing costs, not taxes. Your first source studies taxes, housing, and unemployment to measure incorrect correlation and causation. High taxes don't cause skyrocketing housing costs. Your second source is anecdotal evidence, which is exactly why the study was conducted by Stanford and Princeton.
This entire post is simply not true. New Jersey http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...ch-people-moving-treasury-economist-says.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/04/st...n-personal-finance-rich-avoid-new-jersey.html http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/high_taxes_drive_out_njs_riche.html Maryland http://www.cnbc.com/id/48120446 http://www.wbaltv.com/news/maryland...ues/-/10640252/15469570/-/24lqq8/-/index.html http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124329282377252471 http://washingtonexaminer.com/wealthy-leave-md.-suburbs-irs-data-show/article/2501533 California http://www.sfgate.com/business/netw...sely-watch-migrating-millionaires-5135090.php http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/us/millionaires-consider-leaving-california-over-taxes.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/ethan-anderson-california-taxes_n_2246156.html If you think millionaires won't leave because of high taxes... start taxing them at 90% and see what happens.
France has done 75% and it hasn't happened yet. Britain had taxes at 50%. Funny how conservatives always get defensive when their worldview is questioned. I never ONCE advocated for 90% tax rates, yet you go straight to the extreme. I merely posted an article with in depth, EMPIRICAL evidence that allows one to conclude that tax flight is a myth. Your response is to post a bunch of half ass blogs, or anecdotes of SINGLE people threatening (not acting!) to leave over taxes. Furthermore, if you comprehend math, you konw that hiking taxes 1-2% per year is less than moving, real estate commission, and closing costs, and taxes associated with selling your multi-million dollar house, picking up and moving. That's why economists have proposed enacting millionaire taxes during recessions to offset the drop in middle / lower class revenue. It flat out brings in more revenue. I'm not advocating excessive taxation, I simply stated the truth. It is a MYTH!
Make it 90% in EVERY state with a hefty exit fee to move money out of the country, detain them at the airport if they don't pay, then tell them GTF OUT!
I personally have a 6 figure salary, live in a state with high taxes and higher real estate costs. I live about an hour drive from a state with low taxes and cheaper real estate and 5 minutes from my work place where I work with people who make that drive in order to pay less taxes and have a cheaper home. But in all honesty, they lose 2 hours a day of their lives driving back and forth in heavy traffic. I fill my gas tank at $60 a pop, maybe every 10 days, they do the same every 2 days! I get to sleep in about 1.5 hours more than they do and still get home before them! It's all relative to how you want to live. They pay for services that I get in return for my taxes. In the end, they aren't coming out ahead IMO.
...it is usually the taxes that bring the services There are no free lunches in this world. Lower taxes = lower public services. Schools, libraries, parks, sanitation, water treatment, fire services, police, snow removal, infrastructure upgrades, etc. etc.
Leaving California to live in Mississippi for lower taxes doesn't take much effort really. Now leaving California to go live in South America does. It is also unAmerican and those folks when they leave should lose their citizenship. If they decide they don't like eating bananas all day and want to come back they can get a green card or a coyote to help them cross the border.
And we have all that stuff, especially public schools usually ranked at the top of the nation, still well stocked public libraries worth using! I mean at our libraries you can borrow recently released movies for free. We have great public parks, sports facilities, bike trails, sports leagues for kids at least partly public and affordable, in the neighboring county that is derided as "The People's Republic of Howard County" by the **********s, there are public pools of high quality, that you don't need a membership to use and costs $5 per visit... I live in Maryland by the way. Among the Bluest states with high taxes, but I don't mind living here and don't feel as overburdened as the **********s would have you believe.
There are some really nice places in South America. Moving from LA to Sao Paulo or Buenos Aires would be very easy specifically if you hablo espanol (or Portuguese if Brazil). They don't eat banana's as much as they eat plantains. And you can get great steaks in Buenos Aires on par with anything in the US.
