Note: The views and opinions expressed in blog/editorial posts are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of Misbar.
States are changing as people are moving. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a mass exodus out of some states and into others. What is driving this move? Well, many things, but the migration across state lines is mostly happening out of states with high wealth tax rates and into states with a lower wealth tax. Thus, it does look like a mass exodus out of blue states and into red states. It will likely take years to know the true effect of this migration. Time will reveal whether people who leave states with a wealth tax will vote differently to avoid bringing a wealth tax to the very states to which they escaped.
As it is, thousands have vacated their New York homes and moved to Florida. Likewise, on the west coast, thousands have fled California to settle on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, where homes are flying off the market sight unseen at record numbers. Meanwhile, homes in Silicon Valley have failed to appreciate at similar rates. People simply don’t want to live in states with high taxes, and when the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in many workers operating from home, they could no longer see a good reason to continue to pay such exorbitant taxes.
Soon after the Biden Administration passed the 1.9 Trillion-dollar COVID-19 Relief plan, it began drafting an even higher priced infrastructure plan. The only way they can cover these costs is by raising taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. It should not surprise us if we see successful businesses moving their corporations oversees where taxes are more reasonable.
Progressives do not seem to understand that the wealthy can simply cross borders if the place they currently live become inhospitable to them. They also do not understand that these wealthy businesses, corporations, and individuals are not exploiting the poor, but lifting them out of poverty by providing jobs and increasing the American GDP.
If liberals want people to be lifted out of poverty, they will make it easier for businesses to stay here in America. If blue states want to help their poor, they should make it easier for the wealthy to stay in their states. The wealthy are already paying the majority of taxes, especially in blue states. On top of that, the wealthy are the ones providing jobs and building up the economy. It is often said that the working class is the backbone of this country, and that may be true, but the working class cannot go to work if no one is providing the jobs. And who provides jobs to the working class? It is entrepreneurs and business owners. If we want our states and our country to be hospitable to the poor and the working class, it must be hospitable to the wealthy and to corporations.
Instead of building states that encourage entrepreneurship, blue states are punishing the wealthy with their high tax rates which they claim is for the cause of equity. Instead of paying these high taxes, the wealthy are crossing state lines. We see the same trend happening at the national level as well. When America raises its taxes on its wealthiest citizens, those corporations will simply move overseas. To stop this from happening, America should be seeking to become a hospitable place for our wealthy citizens so that they will stay and continue to create jobs that lift people from poverty to working class. Instead, we see the Biden Administration seeking to compel other countries to also impose a high tax rate.
Biden’s treasury secretary Janet Yellen is pushing for a global minimum tax rate. This is backwards thinking. Once there is a global minimum tax rate, there is nothing that will stop that tax rate from soaring and impoverishing millions of people around the globe as it does.
The left continues to promise that if we just put more money in their hands, they will solve all of America’s problems. And yet, all that seems to happen when taxes are raised is that politicians grow richer. They are lining their pockets with the money they promised to use to end poverty and promote equity. This should be quite obvious by now, but somehow, they continue to exploit the poor by using them as an excuse to tax the wealthy, and then they do not help the poor with that money. They make themselves richer and continue to claim that they need to raise taxes.
If this begins to happen at the global level, there will be no escape. There will no longer be any countries that are hospitable to the spirit of entrepreneurship. Regular people will no longer be able to build wealth and choose what to do with that wealth. Instead, everyone who makes something of themselves will see their hard-earned money legally stolen by corrupt politicians all over the world.
If there is a wealth tax on Americans, they will move their corporations to other countries. If there is a wealth tax only in blue states, the wealthy will move across state lines along with their businesses and the jobs they create. This is exactly what we are seeing happen right now.
The left likes to talk a lot about the wealth gap. That’s because they know that poverty everywhere is being reduced, so they cannot capitalize on poverty to get into positions of power unless they focus on the gap and make people believe that everyone should have the same amount of wealth. The fact is, as the rich get richer, they do pull people out of poverty along with them. Equity won’t matter one iota if everyone is in poverty, and that is exactly what can and will happen if politicians disincentivize entrepreneurship by punishing successful businesses and wealthy people with disproportionate tax rates.
We need to be voting for politicians who will create hospitable environments for our wealthy citizens so that they can continue to create jobs, build up the working class, and reduce poverty.
