About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

High Tax States Again Lead Out-Migration In U.S.

"Everyone in Trenton is aware of the tax problems that we have here & that the state's in a financial crisis.  Our goal is to come up with a solution that's not all these taxes.  I think that people that have the ability to leave are leaving." – NJ Senate President, Democrat Steve Sweeney speaking about the annual budget crisis that occurs every July 1 in NJ & specifically against NJ Governor Democrat Phil Murphy's proposed sales tax increase & imposition of a 19.8% tax boost to the highest marginal income tax rate in the state. 
 
click on map to enlarge
 
Well Senator Sweeney is certainly right to be concerned – the above map of the U.S. shows that states depicted in yellow experienced the largest moving deficits according to United Van Lines 41st Annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers' state-to-state migration patterns over the past year.  States depicted in dark blue had high inbound movements.
 
In 2017 NJ led the way in this negative category in the Northeast with 63% outbound moves followed by NY (61%), Connecticut (57%), & Massachusetts (56%).  Illinois is now in the top spot overall, also with 63%, inching out NJ by a decimal point.  NJ had infamously held the top spot for the past five consecutive years.
 
United Van Lines classifies states as "high outbound" or "high inbound" if 55% or more of the moves respectively are outbound or inbound. 
 
The 2017 data reflects the longer trend movement to the western & southern states – especially where housing costs are lower, climates are milder than the northeast or rust belt, & job growth is above the national average.  This migration also includes young professionals & retirees who leave California for many reasons. 
 
Moving Out:
 
The top outbound states for 2017 were:
 
1.  Illinois (previously #2)
2.  New Jersey (previously #1 five years in a row)
3.  New York
4.  Connecticut
5.  Kansas
6.  Massachusetts
7.  Ohio
8.  Kentucky
9.  Utah
10. Wisconsin
 
There was only 1% difference between #6 Massachusetts & # 10 Wisconsin so it would not take much to rearrange these bottom five states in the top ten.
 
Of course property taxes are a major player in all of the above ratings.  See list below for all 50 states & DC.  It is easy to see that New Jersey is 51st & Illinois is 50th in this regard.  The rankings are based on the highest effective real-estate tax rate – note that New Jersey's annual taxes based on homes priced @ the state median value are far & away the highest of any state.
 
The effective real-estate tax rate in the list below is determined by dividing the median real-estate tax payment by the median home price in each state.  Example – for NJ the $7,601 median real-estate tax payment divided by the $316,400 median home price equals 2.4%, the effective real-estate tax rate.  Applying the 2.4% effective real-estate tax rate to the $185,000 median value of a house in the U.S., as of 2016, results in the $4,437 annual tax figure for NJ on a $185K home.  The median value of a home was in accordance with the Census Bureau.
 
Every time I present this type of data we see that states that follow high-tax socialist-like government control of its residents, regardless of party affiliation, are @ the top of the out-migration lists.
 
I am still waiting to find a blue state that turns red because more conservatives moved in.
 
Real-Estate Property Taxes by State

Rank
(1=Lowest)

State

Effective Real-Estate Tax Rate

Annual Taxes on $185K Home*

State Median Home Value

Annual Taxes on Home Priced at State Median Value

51 New Jersey 2.40% $4,437 $316,400 $7,601
50 Illinois 2.32% $4,288 $174,800 $4,058
49 New Hampshire 2.19% $4,038 $239,700 $5,241
48 Connecticut 2.02% $3,733 $269,300 $5,443
47 Wisconsin 1.95% $3,602 $167,000 $3,257
46 Texas 1.86% $3,435 $142,700 $2,654
45 Nebraska 1.83% $3,371 $137,300 $2,506
44 Vermont 1.78% $3,285 $218,900 $3,893
43 Michigan 1.71% $3,158 $127,800 $2,185
41 New York 1.65% $3,057 $286,300 $4,738
41 Rhode Island 1.65% $3,047 $238,200 $3,929
40 Ohio 1.56% $2,890 $131,900 $2,064
39 Pennsylvania 1.55% $2,867 $167,700 $2,603
38 Iowa 1.50% $2,762 $132,800 $1,986
37 Kansas 1.40% $2,580 $135,300 $1,890
35 Maine 1.32% $2,444 $176,000 $2,329
35 South Dakota 1.32% $2,446 $146,700 $1,943
34 Massachusetts 1.21% $2,238 $341,000 $4,132
33 Alaska 1.19% $2,190 $257,100 $3,048
32 Minnesota 1.17% $2,155 $191,500 $2,234
31 Maryland 1.10% $2,030 $290,400 $3,191
30 Oregon 1.07% $1,970 $247,200 $2,637
29 Washington 1.06% $1,962 $269,300 $2,860
28 North Dakota 1.05% $1,947 $164,000 $1,729
27 Florida 1.02% $1,885 $166,800 $1,702
26 Missouri 1.00% $1,842 $141,200 $1,408
25 Georgia 0.93% $1,712 $152,400 $1,413
24 Oklahoma 0.89% $1,638 $121,300 $1,076
23 Indiana 0.87% $1,606 $126,500 $1,100
22 North Carolina 0.86% $1,581 $157,100 $1,345
20 Kentucky 0.85% $1,579 $126,100 $1,078
20 Montana 0.85% $1,570 $199,700 $1,698
19 Mississippi 0.80% $1,470 $105,700 $841
17 California 0.79% $1,461 $409,300 $3,237
17 Virginia 0.79% $1,467 $248,400 $1,973
15 Arizona 0.77% $1,427 $176,900 $1,367
15 Nevada 0.77% $1,425 $191,600 $1,478
13 Idaho 0.76% $1,404 $167,900 $1,276
13 New Mexico 0.76% $1,408 $161,600 $1,232
12 Tennessee 0.75% $1,376 $146,000 $1,088
11 Utah 0.67% $1,240 $224,600 $1,508
10 Arkansas 0.63% $1,161 $114,700 $721
9 Wyoming 0.61% $1,130 $199,900 $1,223
8 West Virginia 0.59% $1,082 $107,400 $629
6 Colorado 0.57% $1,058 $264,600 $1,516
6 South Carolina 0.57% $1,056 $143,600 $821
5 District of Columbia 0.56% $1,026 $506,100 $2,811
4 Delaware 0.55% $1,009 $233,100 $1,274
3 Louisiana 0.51% $934 $148,300 $750
2 Alabama 0.43% $791 $128,500 $550
1 Hawaii 0.27% $501 $538,400 $1,459