You don’t want to be stuck in a loser state. In 2013 more than 200,000 people left states with Democrat governors for ones with Republicans according to Americans for Tax Reform. “People move away from high tax states to low tax states. Every tax refugee is sending a powerful message to politicians,” said ATR President Grover Norquist. “They are voting with their feet. Leaders in Texas and Florida are listening. New York and California are not.” From ATR:
Top 5 loser states for Democrat governors in 2013:
- New York (114,929 people with $5.7 billion in AGI)
- Illinois (68,943 people with $3.8 billion in AGI)
- California (47,458 people with 3.8 billion in AGI)
- Connecticut (14,453 people with $1.8 billion in AGI)
- Massachusetts (11,915 people with $1 billion in AGI)
Top 5 winner states for Republican governors in 2013:
- Texas (152,912 people with $6 billion in AGI)
- Florida (74,094 people with 8.3 billion in AGI)
- South Carolina (29,176 people with 1.6 billion in AGI)
- North Carolina (26,207 people with $1.5 billion in AGI)
- Arizona (16,549 people with $1.5 billion in AGI)
The single largest net migration from one state to another took place between New York and Florida (17,355 people).
Here’s a map from The Tax Foundation of some similar data. It would appear the the moves outlined by ATR are the continuation of longer term migration trends from higher-tax states to lower-tax states.
