“High taxes don’t redistribute income, they redistribute people”

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
BizzyBlog
November 30, 2005
Voting with Our Feet, Part 5: Willisms Looks at State Migration Patterns
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COMMENTS
George Gilder summed it up years ago. “Taxes don’t redistribute wealth, they redistribute taxpayers.”

In our case, when the opportunity came to profit from a move from one high-tax state to another, it was less repressive gun laws which was the clincher. Still a vote with our feet, and one other bloggers have been known to make.
Comment by triticale — — December 1, 2005 @ 10:02 am
       
American Public Media
A tale of two tax policies
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
STEPHEN MOORE: Don’t look now, but the Democratic Party is finally starting to embrace pro-growth, tax-cutting policies. It’s just that none of these Democrats are in Washington, D.C.
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Every day 1,000 Americans vote with their feet and move from the highest-tax to the lowest-tax states.
 
Only one state raised its taxes sharply: hapless New Jersey. The Garden State was already rated one of the five most anti-business states in the country because of high property and income taxes. And now the new governor, Jon Corzine, has raised taxes again. If New Jersey was a stock, you would want to sell all the shares you own.
 
There’s an old saying that high taxes don’t redistribute income, they redistribute people. That’s a lesson that Mr. Corzine and most Democrats in Washington, D.C., can’t seem to grasp. But it’s good to see that other Democrat leaders across the country are casting aside the politics of class warfare for the politics of growth.
 
RYSSDAL: Economist Stephen Moore is a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board.
     
Global Nomads (February 11, 2008)
“High taxes don’t redistribute wealth, they redistribute taxpayers.”

That’s what one of our friends said in reaction to the latest controversy surrounding the British government’s plan to introduce a new tax for resident but non-domiciled foreigners, a.k.a. tax exiles who use the UK as their business base almost tax free. (The UK is a great offshore tax haven as long as you’re not British… we’ve said so for years)
 
Wall Street Journal
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
FEBRUARY 12, 2008
States of Opportunity
An old adage says high taxes don’t redistribute income, they redistribute people. For new evidence look no further than migration patterns within the United States, as documented in a new survey by the moving company United Van Lines.
 
A record eight million Americans—some 20,000 people every day—relocated to another state last year. So where are these families headed and why? The general picture is this: Americans are continuing to flee the Northeast and Midwest, while the leading destinations continue to be Southern and Western states.
 
The Heartland Institute
High Taxes Drive People and Jobs Out of States
Rich States, Poor States ranks states’ competitiveness
Written By: Steve Stanek
Publication date: 03/01/2008
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
Just as nations compete economically, so do the individual states within the United States. In fact, states are much more likely to lose jobs and people to other states than to other nations.
 
With this in mind, economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore have released Rich States, Poor States, published by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The book offers lawmakers and citizens facts with which to evaluate states’ fiscal and economic policies and analyze their results and ramifications.
 
“States that have controlled spending and taxes are doing better than states that have not done these things,” Moore said. “High taxes don’t redistribute income; they redistribute people. Our work on this book shows that.”
 
TS-SI
Conservative Group On Competitiveness: Utah First, NY Last 
Nation - Economy
Pamela M. Prah  
Thursday, 19 March 2009 03:00
Washington, DC, USA. Utah ranks first while New York is dead last among the 50 states in the 2009 “economic competitiveness” index from a conservative group of state legislators. Colorado, Arizona, Virginia and South Dakota round out the top five while New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont rank the lowest, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that advocates for limited government. 
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“You can’t tax your way to prosperity,” said economist Arthur B. Laffer, one of the authors of the study who popularized “supply-side economics,” which promotes economic growth through tax cuts.
 
“High taxes don’t redistribute income, they redistribute people,” Laffer said, noting that he moved from California to Tennessee because of the higher taxes in California. The report takes a particular look at California, comparing the state’s tax structure with Texas and reviewing California’s fiscal history to explain its current budget situation.
 
New York (NY) Post
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
RESIDENTS FLEE AS NY RANKS LAST FOR 2009 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
By JONATHAN WILLIAMS
April 19, 2009
There’s an old saying that high taxes don’t redistribute income, they redistribute people. Unfortunately for the hard-working taxpayers of New York, this wisdom seems to be lost on Gov. Paterson and a majority of legislators in Albany.