Another Blindingly Obvious Observation: Raise the Taxes on the Rich, and They Will Move Away

Here's a news story from yesterday's Patriot Post:

Income Redistribution: Rich Vote With Their Feet
Speaking of higher taxes, Americans are saying good-bye to higher taxes -- literally. According to a study recently conducted for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), from 1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people per day -- many of them high-income earners -- moved from the nine highest-income-tax states primarily to the nine no-income-tax states. For example, after New Jersey implemented its "half-millionaire" tax hike in 2005, the state lost 4,000 half-millionaires. And as billionaire Tom Golisano recently wrote in The New York Post, his move from the Empire State to the Sunshine State will save him more than $5 million annually in state taxes.

High taxes are not only the antagonist to population retention but are also the toxin that kills economic growth. When the University of Colorado's Barry W. Poulson examined reasons for states' prosperity or lack thereof from 1964 to 2004, he found "a significant negative impact of higher marginal tax rates on state economic growth." The ALEC study confirmed this, finding that from 1998 to 2007, states with no income tax created 89 percent more jobs and boasted 32 percent faster personal income growth than high-tax states.

Still, liberals cry for tax hikes on the rich to alleviate state budget deficits. It turns out that by talking with their feet, the "rich" are saying, "No thanks."