Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Are high taxes causing people...

...to leave Illinois? From an article in the Quincy Journal (all emphasis mine):

“Illinois is bleeding residents to other states at a rate of 1 person every 10 minutes, and that’s after you take into consideration all the people who have moved into the state,” said Michael Lucci, director of jobs and growth at the Illinois Policy Institute. "We can't ignore that high taxes play a major role in encouraging people to jump the border. The latest Census Bureau data, for example, shows the pace at which people leave Illinois accelerating since the 2011 state tax increase. If Illinois wants to stop the bleeding, it must abandon its tax-and-spend policies and look at pro-growth reforms being implemented in other states.”

Is Mr. Lucci right? I don't know, but according to a recent article in the New York Times, "Wealthier New Yorkers Aren’t Fleeing the City for Tax Havens, a Study Says":

The study, by the city’s Independent Budget Office, found that the share of higher-income households that moved from the city in 2012, 1.8 percent, equaled the share of lower-income households that left.

States known for lower taxes, among them, South Dakota, Delaware, New Mexico, Utah, Tennessee, Louisiana, Colorado, Alabama and Wyoming, did not even register on the study’s list of destinations for wealthier New York City movers.

While unequivocally critical of Mr. de Blasio’s tax-the-rich proposal, former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has acknowledged previously that high taxes have driven few of his fellow billionaires from New York. The study suggests that wealthier New York City residents, like other movers, weigh job opportunities, housing and family considerations when deciding whether to move.

“I can only tell you, among my friends, I’ve never heard one person say, ‘I’m going to move out of the city because of the taxes,’ ” he said.

How about you? Do you know anyone who's left Illinois because of the high taxes?

1 comment:

Ed Crotty said...

The "Illinois Policy Institute" is a a thinly veiled front for the Koch Brothers. So take whatever they say with a hug boulder of salt because it is likely total bullsh*t.

http://www.charleskochinstitute.org/liberty-work/partner-organizations/

http://www.progressillinois.com/posts/content/2013/11/18/new-report-sheds-some-light-illinois-policy-institutes-big-money-funders