Here’s an interesting thought: Will the rapidly approaching Obama Depression cause a reverse of the “Grapes of Wrath” depression migration from the dust bowl to the coasts? Will thousands upon thousands of east and west cost tax refugees crowd into the still fairly healthy Midwest states looking for work – or at least some relief from the obscene taxation of the coastal zones?
Read this article and the thought is not beyond the realm of the possible:
Congressional plans to fund a massive health-care overhaul could have a job-killing effect on New York, creating a tax rate of nearly 60 percent for the state’s top earners and possibly pressuring small-business owners to shed workers.
New York’s top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent — rates not seen in three decades — to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.
The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state’s wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.
That means New York’s top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.
My personal prediction is that a lot – and I mean a lot – of the “rich”, who are actually just small business owners who have subchapter S corporations will fly off the tax rolls by either re-incorporating as subchapter C corporations or cease doing business at all. (Subchapter S business incomes are simply passed through to their personal income tax returns and the owners pay the same taxes as any other individual filer.)
I think this news only reinforces my belief. But I do wonder if there will be a sudden flight of people from the coasts to the Midwest. I suspect there might be a real boom in states with low or no state income taxes in the next few years.
Those states with high state taxes, like New York, are going to be in severe trouble, very, very quickly.
There’s that Obama change you were Obama hoping for!
Via Memeorandum
There are already a lot of immigrants from California here in Utah. If you ask them why they came it is because they want a decent place to raise their kids. Utah has clean air and schools without fences, gates, and metal detectors. These immigrants come from all the social strata, people from South Central LA as well as researchers from Lawrence Livermore and JPL.
Small-business owners might shed workers but, if possible, they would shed New York.
Texas is a good ace for self reliant folks. We don’t want the leftist-marxist diseases here. We are a right to carry state, so the disarmed liberals will be easier pickin’s. The smart “rich” will get out quick. I figure that New York will try to tax these escapees any way that they can. Look at how they tried to ensnare Rush, and he clearly wasn’t gonna be a victim. He had the money to fight them to a draw, but some may not. Don’t think for a minute that New York or California will let these tax escapees go without a fight. If a person has a company that they want to move to Texas, I’m sure that Gov. Perry will help them. Give him a call – did I say tax rebates and such?
We have too many from CA here in CO. Destroying the state. Stay in CA!
I was thinking about how people vote with their feet. I’m curious about what would spark a general refusal to pay income taxes – distrust of the government, outright fraudulent theft of public monies, bumbling incompetence, tax officials who don’t pay their taxes -what would it take? Suppose 20% of the taxpayers simply refused? Would that be enough to derail the big O? Tea partiers talk about this a lot, because we don’t trust our government. Tea Party is big in Texas, and any economic refugees need to realize that.
“If you ask them why they came it is because they want a decent place to raise their kids.”
I lived in a place like that once that attracted “refugees” from urban areas with high crime and poor schools. Those refugees ended up bringing their problems with them. Their kids were absolute hellions. It wasn’t long before vandalism, fights, petty theft, tagging, etc. were nearly as bad as they had been where they lived before.
It isn’t the location that makes a place an undesirable place to life, it is the culture of the people living there. And when those people migrate, they tend to take their culture with them.
“Suppose 20% of the taxpayers simply refused?”
Refused to file, not refuse to pay is what I am assuming you mean. Most responsible businesses will withhold tax from their employees’ paychecks.
What we are going to end up seeing, I believe, is an expanding “underground” economy with underground banks and lenders. The Democrats are going to feed a lot of business to the mob by making it too expensive to operate legitimately. Bribery is going to go up, corruption is going to go up, and financial crime is going to go up.
People are simply going to stop reporting income and hide their cash.
the country that elected the dems and obama to rule us will migrate to the coasts where they can be taken care of.
I think a lot of small business owners, especially any who are close to retirement age will simply close their doors and retire if they can swing it financially and many of them still can. Get out while the getting is good.
The other part of this is that it will accelerate the movement of people to states with lower or no estate taxes as well. You can’t avoid the federal taxes, but you avoid the states. Why would a retiree living in NYC, but still making money stay when they can head elsewhere have their savings last longer and pass more on. People will migrate for jobs. NYC always thinks broadway and culture will keep people there, and it will some. However, for most, there is just no reason to remain.