New Yorkers are packing up and moving south to Florida, not for the weather, but because their tax bills are a lot less there, and that kind of migration marks "maybe the biggest political and economic story that's happening in America," Stephen Moore, the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, said Tuesday.
"People are moving out of the high tax states, about 1,000 people a day," Moore told Fox News' Dana Perino. "I'm on a board of four states that I call the four states apocalypse. Do you know what they are? New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and my home state of Illinois – just getting clobbered."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida had the highest number of people moving in from other states, with 63,722 people leaving in the 12 months ending in July 2018 alone, reports the New York Post. They are saving big, as a recent study calculates a savings of nearly $25,000 on an annual income of $100,000 in Dade County, Florida, because of lower taxes and a lower cost of living.
Moore said the four states are losing population to Florida and also to Texas, Tennessee, Utah, and North Carolina because they have much lower taxes, and in the case of Texas, Tennessee, and Florida, there is no income tax.
"Boy does that make a big difference," Moore said. "If you are a millionaire and you move out of New York and go to Florida and Texas, you can practically buy a house with just the money you save on your income taxes."
He also noted people are leaving the most progressive states, but Democrats want to make America look like New York and New Jersey.
"No, we should make America look more like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida," Moore said.
Meanwhile, he said he does not see a recession on the horizon, despite all the talk.
"We were growing at 3% last year," he said. "We're down to about 2% this year. That's clearly the trade war with China, which is still ongoing. I think Trump is fighting a good fight there. It has been causing some economic pain."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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