We all know that people will flee high-tax areas and relocate to low-tax areas, a fact that too many politicians ignore. But the same applies to counties and cities and now we know how much.
"How Money Walks," by Travis Brown, takes a look at data from the Internal Revenue Service and then examines how wealth and people move between states. His website maps the data with numbers. The correlation is clear, he says: the key to accumulating wealth in your state is to have a pro-growth tax policy that does not tax personal income.
Nationally, Ohio fairs poorly.
The state lost $18.39 billion in annual Adjusted Gross Income from 1992-2010.
To be fair, we did gain income from some states:
- $323.51 million New York
- $218.36 million West Virginia
- $205.12 million New Jersey
- $112.16 million Pennsylvania
- $15.20 million Connecticut
But here is who we lost to - and how much:
- $6.46 billion Florida
- $1.51 billion North Carolina
- $1.18 billion South Carolina
- $1.16 billion Texas
- $1.09 billion Arizona
In Lucas County, as in all the other large metropolitan areas, the story is the same:
Lucas County lost $1.82 billion in AGI. Here is where we lost to - and gained from:
Gained Wealth From:
- $8.27 million Allen County, OH
- $5.95 million Erie County, OH
- $5.25 million Lorain County, OH
- $5.08 million Seneca County, OH
- $4.86 million Trumbull County, OH
Lost Wealth To:
- $219.39 million Wood County, OH
- $204.14 million Monroe County, MI
- $100.26 million Franklin County, OH
- $60.18 million Fulton County, OH
- $42.49 million Lee County, FL
In both the state and county data, you can see that we're losing far, far more than we're gaining.
There are lessons here, especially in light of Toledo's income tax - but is anyone paying attention?
1 comment:
Perhaps politicians have noticed, but they will have some illogical excuse and blame it on Republicans.
Strangely and in spite of decades of evidence, it works pretty much everytime with the electorate in Toledo and Lucas County.
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