By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--January 15, 2018
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Taxation, as my dyed-in-the-wool libertarian friends like to say, is theft. State-sponsored theft, legalized theft, tolerated theft, and possibly even necessary theft, but theft just the same. People probably wouldn't mind it so much if 100% of the money went to tangible, unarguably beneficial, projects. Unfortunately, as taxation stands now, your money is confiscated and much of it's squandered on a whole array of worthless garbage.
Everyone, whether they admit it or not, wants to keep more of what they earn. Progressives like to call this instinct "unpatriotic." Those of us who know our nation's history call it "the most patriotic thing in the world." Whatever you call it, it's perfectly natural and (since we don't have walls between the states) high-tax states are becoming acutely aware of it.Illinois, New Jersey, and New York were the top states in the nation for outbound moves in 2017, according to data from United Van Lines. United Van Lines, which tracks state-to-state migration patterns, found that Illinois was the top state for outbound migration with 63 percent of moves going out of state. "The Northeast continues to experience a moving deficit with New Jersey (63 percent outbound), New York (61 percent) and Connecticut (57 percent) making the list of top outbound states for the third consecutive year," the report states.If you're wondering, as of last April all four of the states mentioned above made the "top ten list" for having the highest tax burdens in the country:
1. New York (12.94%) 6. Connecticut (10.23%) 7. New Jersey (10.14%) 9. Illinois (10.00%)This should not be surprising. It should be common sense - and it's only going to accelerate once the new tax code is in place. Hopefully, it puts pressure on high tax locations to reduce the burden. In the meantime, if you're wondering where people are going, they’re heading west. Specifically, the Mountain West region.
"As a region, the Mountain West continues to increase in popularity with 54 percent of moves being inbound," the report states. "The southern states also saw a high number of people moving in with 52 percent of total moves being inbound."As someone who lived in the Rockies for a number of years, let me tell you. Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho are amazing places. Moving there is not a bad idea...
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