No, the rich won’t leave
The Bluesky post below provoked TSE at Political Betting dot com to remark, “I find this poll utterly depressing, like Brexit, the voters are prepared to make the country worse off financially because of values. I have recently thoiught [sic] about taking a job overseas, more polling like this and I definitely will be going, the country should be about aspiration.”
The United States was once. But then nearly half of us last November chose a shift toward fascism that will leave the country and the world worse off.
Of course, the Randian threat that people rich enough to flee the country to avoid paying marginally more in taxes is bluff and bluster, finds Inequality.org:
Increasing taxes on high income earners helped raise revenue without hampering the wealth of the millionaire class in Massachusetts and Washington, according to a new policy brief from the Institute for Policy Studies and State Revenue Alliance.
A common counter to raising taxes on the rich is that they will simply flee their home states to jurisdictions with friendlier tax codes. While some tax migration is inevitable, the wealthy that move to avoid taxes represent a tiny percentage of their own social class. The top one percent are incentivized not to move because of family, social networks and local business knowledge.
Our findings support the case against tax flight: The number of individuals with a net worth of at least seven-figures continued to expand in both Massachusetts and Washington after tax hikes. The millionaire class has grown by 38.6 percent in Massachusetts and 46.9 percent in Washington over the past two years. The seven-figure clubs in those states saw their wealth grow by $580 million and $748 million, respectively.
Not only did millionaires not flee the states imposing new taxes, but the states became richer. The four percent surtax on million-dollar incomes in Massachusetts and the seven percent tax on capital gains of $250,000 or more in Washington State succeeded in raising revenue — $2.2 billion for FY 2024 and $1.2 billion in its first two years of implementation, respectively.
OTOH, New York was glad to rid itself of Donald Trump. But it wasn’t taxes he was fleeing.
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