What do California, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Minnesota have in common? They are all blue states that have adopted a strategy of raising taxes on their wealthy residents. But almost all of these blue states lag behind the national average in growth of jobs and incomes. As Stephen Moore, asks, “So, if income redistribution policies are the solution to shrinking the gap between rich and poor, why do they (blue states) fail so miserably?”
Economist Stephen Moore (Heritage Foundation), writing with Arthur Laffer and Jonathan Williams, reports that five of the highest-tax blue states have “lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade.” By comparison, low-tax Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia have gained about that many new residents.
In Rich States, Poor States, Messrs. Moore, Laffer and Williams report on why states with high taxes, high welfare benefits, and high minimum wages also tend to have the highest income inequality. As Stephen Moore explains about blue states’ Robin Hood policies: they are the states where “the rich end up the richest and the poor the poorest.”
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