(Freedom.news) In terms of climate and environment, Florida and California are quite similar. Both have lots of oceanic coastline. Both have moderate weather. Both offer excitement and opportunities.
But, as larger numbers of Americans head for sun-soaked states, for the first time more are heading to Florida instead of California. Why is that?
The mainstream media won’t report the reason, but one very important factor is that California is awash in taxes and in Florida there is smaller government and no state income tax.
“Zero income tax contrasted with the highest in the U.S. means Florida handily wins that competition,” writes Michael Reagan at Newsmax. “But what about sales tax? California loses again.”
According to figures from the Tax Foundation, the combined state and local sales tax rate in California is around 8.4 percent, the eighth highest in the U.S. Florida, meanwhile, comes in at 29th overall with an average state-local rate of just 6.62 percent.
And, of course, there is the one-party rule in California, which is dominated by Left-wing Democrats “who find the time to regulate the most minute parts of your private lives, while totally failing to adopt a water policy that would have mitigated the current drought that is devastating parts of the state,” Reagan noted.
And while the Republicans who govern Florida aren’t perfect, at least they tax and spend a bit less.
This isn’t just anecdotal evidence. Americans for Tax Reform, citing IRS data, noted that in 2013 more than 200,000 people fled high-tax, Democrat-run states for lower tax states run by Republicans.
“People move away from high tax states to low tax states. Every tax refugee is sending a powerful message to politicians,” said ATR President Grover Norquist. “They are voting with their feet. Leaders in Texas and Florida are listening. New York and California are not.”
The biggest losers were New York, Illinois, California, Connecticut and Massachusetts; the biggest winners were Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the Carolinas.
“If income redistribution policies are the solution to shrinking the gap between rich and poor, why do they fail so miserably in the states?” writes Stephen Moore in The Washington Times, in April.
“California is the prototypical example. It has the highest tax rates of any state. It has very generous welfare benefits. Many of its cities have a high minimum wage. But day after day, the middle class keeps leaving,” he said. “The wealthy areas such as San Francisco and the Silicon Valley boom. Yet the state has nearly the highest poverty rate in the nation.”
But rather than learn from mistakes in policy, Democrats in these high-tax states double down on them, which only leads to more misery – and more flight to lower-tax climes.
- Click here to ‘like’ Freedom.news on Facebook!
See also:
