STUMP » Articles » Taxing Tuesday: Flee South, Old Folks! » 26 March 2019, 06:34

Where Stu & MP spout off about everything.

Taxing Tuesday: Flee South, Old Folks!  

by

26 March 2019, 06:34

Florida ex-Governor and current senator Rick Scott has some advice.

Why New Yorkers Flee for Florida

A recent article in a Beltway publication warned about a potential recession and considered how it might affect President Trump’s chances at re-election. The story began — no joke: “The luxury real estate market in Manhattan is sagging.” It goes on to argue that softening in the real-estate market in high-tax Northeastern states is caused by the 2017 tax-reform law. Thus the claim is that because taxpayers can deduct only $10,000 in state and local taxes from their federal returns, America is heading for a recession.

Nonsense. The tax-reform law stops high-tax states from burdening the rest of us with their irresponsible decisions. America is a marketplace where states are competing with each other, and New York is losing. Their loss is Florida’s gain — and Texas’ and South Carolina’s and Ohio’s and Indiana’s.

I would like to tell New Yorkers on behalf of the rest of America that our hearts go out to you for your sagging luxury real-estate market. But you did this to yourself, and you can fix it yourself. If you cut taxes and make state and local government efficient, maybe you can compete with Florida again.

SALT cap zero! That way it will be entirely fair.

With a cap greater than zero, the state that taxes $4,000 is getting more benefit for its residents than the one that taxes $2,000… and that’s just not fair.

Remember why the Alternative Minimum Tax was created? Because some very high-income people could state tax (and other) deduct themselves out of paying federal tax. I’ve gotten hit with the AMT before.

Back to Sen. Scott:

I made more than 20 trips to high-tax states like California, Connecticut, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania to lure businesses to Florida. The tax-happy leaders of those states were furious, which made the visits all the more enjoyable for me. They called me every name in the book. But they were the ones who raised taxes, and bad decisions have consequences.

The elites in New York and Washington should commission a study of Florida to see what happens when conservative ideas are put into practice. The luxury real-estate market in Manhattan may be sagging, but Florida’s economy is thriving, expanding at a record pace.

There’s a reason Florida surpassed New York as the third-largest state. There’s a reason Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s mom left New York for Florida. And there’s a reason companies are fleeing high-tax states, bringing jobs with them to Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

Dude, way to rub it in.

But here’s the deal — many of the high tax states can’t reduce taxes, and it’s not because they currently have inefficient government services (not necessarily, at any rate).

In many cases, it’s because they didn’t fully pay for past services (aka, they underfunded the pensions… and the bills are coming due.)

Another thing: it really is more expensive to live up north. It’s more expensive to heat than to cool, and there’s this thing called snow that the state and localities has to clear away. That’s expensive, too.

Yes, Florida gets hurricane damage from time to time, but that’s a wee more insurable as an event than snow.

QUANTIFYING HOW MANY ARE FLEEING

Wirepoints has a detailed item on how many people are leaving Illinois.

Illinois’ demographic collapse: fewer immigrants, fewer babies and fleeing residents – Wirepoints Special Report

Since the turn of the century, Illinois has been in the midst of a perfect demographic storm. Residents are leaving the state in record numbers. The number of Americans moving into Illinois has hit new lows. Net foreign immigration has fallen by half. And the number of births has dropped by more than 20 percent.

These demographic forces have all combined into a single troubling fact: Illinois is shrinking. The state has lost population five years in a row. In 2018 alone, the state lost 45,000 people, the second-biggest population drop in the country.
.

Read the whole thing.

And this isn’t a mere blip.

It is an increasing trend:

In a followup, they look at Illinois’s neighboring states.

And it looks like Mish is going to be one of those leaving:

Illinois just passed a massive corporate tax hike. Governor Pritzker now seeks a constitutional amendment for a “progressive” tax hike in the name of “fairness”.

Rest assured it will be a middle class tax hike followed by another, then another.

There is no stopping the downward spiral with Pritzker and House Speaker Michael Madigan running the show. Corruption in Illinois is second to none.

We expect to get out of Illinois in about 12-15 months. Our plans have been in place for a few years.

Get the hell out as soon as you can. Illinois’ downward spiral has no end in sight.

And beware Illinois bondholders — if your “guarantee” for the bonds is based on residents paying taxes for certain things… well. It’s a bit hard to get your money, eh? We’ve not had a good state-level default in a long time, but it has happened before, and it can happen again. Be told.

TAX STORIES

Sounds good to me.

TAX TWEETS


Keep hope alive!

via GIPHY


…What does this have to do with the federal government? Do they hire teachers? Do they run any schools? I mean, sure, the military academies. What else?






By all means, fixate on the tax returns. As it says in the old joke, there’s such a huge pile of horseshit, there must be a pony around here somewhere!


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