Why are they leaving?
We moved down to North Carolina on February 28th. Early in the morning we packed everyone and everything into our Honda Odyssey with the U-haul on the back and started down the road. 2 Adults, 3 kids, 1 4 week old infant, 2 dogs and 500 miles to go.
Since I linked to the Barron’s story about the great migration I notices more and more people fleeing NY and moving to the south. In the small company where I’m working alone more than 10 people moved to the south in the last year. And what I observed in my immediate surrounding is actual a very large phenomena:
From 2000 through 2004, a net 1.3 million people moved out of states with taxes on ordinary income and into those without such taxes, says Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University. While climate clearly has played a role in the moves—the destinations are often in the Sunbelt—many of the low-tax states posting gains aren’t generally considered dream spots: Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
"It’s a stealth migration, and it’s one of the biggest, most significant yet least recognized movements of the population in American history," says Vedder. "People are voting with their feet to say that taxes do matter."
But it isn’t only taxes, or even the general high cost of living that accompanies the high taxes, it is the underline of intrusive government that:
Is there any doubt that the infantilization of adults is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary politics?
And adults people do not like being treated as infantile, where the government dictates wheat should they eat, smoke or charge for rent - and they don’t like that at the end of limiting their freedom they need to pay the very high bill. And it is sad but truth that:
New York used to pride itself on being the toughest city in the world. After passing the first municipal ban on trans fat in the United States, it has just become one of the most annoying.
Technorati Tags: Libertarianism - NYC - Trans Fat Ban - Population Migration
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