Over the past decade, 3.5 million Americans have moved from the highest-taxed states to the lowest-taxed states. That figure includes 2.2 million residents who left the high-tax states of New York and California.[1]
On the receiving end, Texas gained 1.4 million new residents, and Florida added 850,000. Neither state has an income tax.
Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, co-authors of the ALEC annual report "Rich States, Poor States," anticipate that the trend will accelerate as a result of the tax law passed late last year. They estimate that "both California and New York will lose on net about 800,000 residents over the next three years — roughly twice the number that left from 2014-16."
Additionally, they expect that "Connecticut, New Jersey and Minnesota combined will hemorrhage another roughly 500,000 people in the same period."
The new tax law no longer allows upper-income Americans to fully deduct state and local tax payments from their federally taxable income. That makes the effective state tax rate higher for wealthier individuals. (About 10 percent of Americans are impacted by this change.)
A recent Number of the Day noted that the price of luxury homes in New York fell dramatically following the passage of the new tax law.
Footnotes:
- The Wall Street Journal, "So Long, California. Sayonara, New York," April 24, 2018
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.