Texas, Florida, Carolina’s biggest winners
By Katy Grimes, California Globe
The California exodus to other states is even worse than we realized; the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000, the Globe reported in February.
Now, the latest IRS state-by-state migration data based on tax returns filed in 2020 and 2021, reveal who and how many residents moved from one state to another between 2019 and 2020.
California’s net loss totals was more than 332,000 residents – more than any other state – taking $29.1 billion with them to other states.
New York and Illinois bled residents as well: New York’s net loss was 262,000 residents and Illinois’ net loss was 105,109.
Florida, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina were the biggest winners.
Worth noting is that in 2018 California was one of the top Inbound destination states, according to Allied Van Lines Company data. By 2020, only two years later, California’s inbound migration was 40%, while its outbound migration was nearly 60%, which leads us to California’s bleeding residents and businesses today. COVID lockdowns, school and business closures anyone?
Wirepoints.com analyzed the IRS data and found Florida was the biggest winner in Adjusted Gross Income of nearly $40,000,000, a 5.5% increase.
In California, Los Angeles and San Francisco counties lost the most residents. This is no surprise either as Los Angeles and San Francisco had the harshest, most draconian Covid restrictions, masking, lockdowns, school closures and vaccine mandates. Los Angeles and San Francisco counties also have the most crime.
In fact, San Francisco County and the State of California were still operating under Covid emergency orders in February 2023 – three years after declaring the Covid State of Emergency, or nearly 1,100 days later. San Francisco initially declared its emergency order in late February 2020 – ahead of Gov. Newsom’s March 4, 2020.
California’s 13.3% income tax rate is the highest marginal tax rate in the nation. And when you add in up to 37% federal taxes, living in California is expensive right off the top, and especially now that we cannot deduct state taxes against the federal. And the California Legislature is attempting another tax on high income earners. Again.
In 2020, the Globe reported “Between 1995 and 2010, millions of Americans moved between the states, taking with them over $2 trillion in adjusted gross incomes,” author Travis Brown says in “How Money Walks: How $2 Trillion Moved Between the States, and Why It Matters.”
How Money Walks updated their maps of the migration of American income and reports California lost $100.12 billion in annual adjusted gross income Wealth Migration 1992-2020.
How Money Walks raises important questions about American tax policy and how it profoundly affects growth and development in our country:
- Why did so much wealth walk? Did people vote with their feet?
- Did money walk because the opportunity to keep more personal income talked?
- How does taxing personal income affect economic growth?
- Which states “won” which states “lost” and why?
How Money Walks concludes, “the key to accumulating working wealth for any state is a pro-growth tax policy, and that means not taxing personal income.”
Tell that to California’s tone-deaf legislators and governor, in this one-party Democrat-ruled state.
These are map graphics from How Money Walks showing California’s losses and Florida’s gains – numbers don’t lie:
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