For a group that loves to lecture as if they are the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, Democratic state leaders refuse to learn from their failed policies. When it comes to operating state budgets and functioning as a responsible entity, these soft-brained blowhards sure do resist the temptation of common sense. Just look at recent results.
After insulting the citizens and telling opponents to go down to Florida, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently changed her tune and attempted a tone-deaf siren song to lure back those who fled. As soon as Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger was sworn in, she pitched her campaign pledges into the firepit and hiked taxes statewide. Then, Boeing took flight out of Virginia.
Then there is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has yet to meet a fiscal failure he could not improve upon. During his tenure, Governor Brylcreem has seen a convoy of businesses and nomadic hordes of citizens jumping his border, as California has lost Congressional seats and annually operates with a budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars. Meanwhile, states like Texas and Florida draw in these transplants and benefit; Ron DeSantis is toying with repealing property taxes as a result of perpetual budget surpluses.
If these governors need a mackerel to the temple wake-up call, they would benefit from looking at Massachusetts. While they can operate with heavy denial concerning their own failures, how about taking a lesson from the misfortune of others?
Following the same “Soak the Rich” playbook, Bay State leaders in 2022 pushed new tax legislation that depends on the wealthy doling out more dollars to the public coffers. The state would issue a new four percent surtax on those with $1 million in assets. What is forever the miscalculation by these politicians is that they feel the rich will just need to suck it up and pay out.
What was lost on the elevated thinkers from The Cradle of Liberty was that the rich have the liberty to roam.
The Pioneer Institute looked over the IRS rolls regarding the state, measuring the results in the first year of this new tax policy, and to no one’s surprise (except the Democratic braintrust), this ended up costing the state billions in lost tax revenue. In 2023, instead of becoming awash in new funds to play with, Massachusetts experienced a $4.18 billion loss. Since 2020, the state has chased off the rich to the tune of $14.8 billion in adjusted gross income (AGI). Those referring to the place as “Tax-achusetts” do so now from elsewhere.
You almost have to try to fail on that level. More than that, the Pioneer Institute could measure where that money leaving the state went, and two locations dominated. Nearby New Hampshire was a landing spot with its lack of a state income tax, and Florida was the other primary recipient. That same year saw just those two states draw in $2.75 billion of former Massachusetts dollars.
Perhaps the most telling statistic here is that in 2023, fewer people actually left the state in the previous year, but those who did flee were far wealthier. That means the very people the state was targeting for their riches were the ones who fled for the hills…or, the beaches.
One other metric was ferretted out in this study. It was not old money leaving the state, but the very business operators that you want sticking around and creating jobs. And wealth. In 2023, the net migration showed that over 7,500 of those leaving were aged 26-35. One of the study’s managers put things in cold perspective.
“Massachusetts’ losses are concerning because they are big, broad and persistent year after year,” said Pioneer Institute’s Jim Stergios. “We are losing key working-age and pre-retirement cohorts—even as federal policy changes have shut off immigrant labor. That combination poses real risks for the state’s labor force, tax base, and long-term economic vitality. The question is: Are elected officials getting the message?”
I’ll help Jim out here with his rhetorical question: “No” would be the answer. This is the kind of trend seen from Blue states for years. The study also measured those who lost the most AGI dollars, and Massachusetts came in fourth place behind California, New York, and Illinois.
I do not need to hand you an azure stick from the Crayola box for you to fill in the color of those locations. But those in Florida thank you, the fiscally-impacted leaders.