Sunday, June 11, 2023

Say goodbye to Hollywood

Covid policy and taxes drove businesses to greener pastures.  WSJ: "The Great Covid Business Migration - States with onerous lockdowns lost employers as well as workers."
BLS counted 6,384 businesses in 2021 that had moved across state lines during the prior year, up from 5,524 in 2020 and 3,677 in 2010. Net migration to the South and from the Northeast doubled between 2020 and 2021. After gaining businesses from other states for most of the last three decades, the West lost a net 175 in 2021—mostly from California.

New York led in net business out-migration (487), followed by California (456), Illinois (208), Maryland (50) and Pennsylvania (33). Florida (399), North Carolina (148), Nevada (103), Texas (103) and Tennessee (92) drew the most businesses from other states. All besides North Carolina have no income tax.
See if you can spot the theme here:


I've highlighted this story before but this is what happens when states lean on a very small sliver of high-earners to fill their state coffers:
Our top-heavy economy has come to this: One man can move out of New Jersey and put the entire state budget at risk. Other states are facing similar situations as a greater share of income — and tax revenue — becomes concentrated in the hands of a few.

Last month, during a routine review of New Jersey's finances, one could sense the alarm. The state's wealthiest resident had reportedly "shifted his personal and business domicile to another state," Frank W. Haines III, New Jersey's legislative budget and finance officer, told a state Senate committee. If the news were true, New Jersey would lose so much in tax revenue that "we may be facing an unusual degree of income tax forecast risk," Haines said.
You can only hit up the "rich" so much before they pull up stakes and take their business with them.


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