politics

I’ll be honest, no shit, it’s dumb you even needed to point this out, anyone who thought that was even a relevant factor knows nothing about anything and their thoughts should be completely discarded

Never once have I even checked the tax rate of a state I’ve considered moving to. It has quite literally never once been a thought in my mind.

One, for the most part the US states with higher income taxes have higher wages, usually more than enough to cover that difference in taxes. I would 100% have more take home pay that goes further living Los Angeles than in Buttfuck, Mississippi.

Two, even if it was actually an income cut to live in states with higher taxes, those are universally the states that suck less to live in and give you something for your taxes. Yeah my taxes are a bit higher but unlike in Florida I’m eligible for Medicaid and food stamps. In Florida if you’re of working age with no kids and not disabled, it is literally impossible to qualify for those programs!

I’m a middle millennial. I am currently actively applying to jobs all over the country. I have never once even considered the tax rate. The things I’ve considered are cost of rent, access to public transit, and legality of abortion. Which basically gives me the DC-Philadelphia-NYC-Boston corridor, Chicago, Portland, and Denver. All of Cali is out because of rent, not taxes, and same for Seattle. Basically everywhere else is out because you can’t get an abortion south of the 37th parallel.

Edit: I misread “Millionaires” as “Millenials” my b. Point still stands though, in fact it stands more, if you’re a millionaire taxes are literally never making a dent in your quality of life and all of the states that don’t suck to live in have high taxes

: "The wealth will trickle down!"

: "Ok, then we will make it trickle down and hold you to your promise!"

At a certain level of wealth, where you “live” is kind of abstract. If you own several homes and constantly spending time at each, where you live legally is more of a formality.

But for a level down from this - when you’re wealthy but not so wealthy to pull this off - there are so many non-monetary reasons for where you live. Someone who loves California weather and the taxes don’t actually make much of an impact in their enjoyment of life? Why the fuck would you move to Tennessee or Florida? Or if all your friends and family live near you now, why move somewhere and isolate yourself just to make a political point about taxes?

This may be anicdotal but I personally know three millionaires that keep their primary residence in Florida and have a second residence in Massachusetts specifically to avoid Massachusetts capital gains.