Escaping the tyranny of the highly taxed and overly regulated republic of California and moving to Texas has been the story of my family and I this summer.
Family, friends, the weather, and all that was familiar were all things that made me happy here in California, but it was extremely hard to justify financially. My choices were to stay in California and hand over a large chunk of money to Sacramento politicians or move to Texas and use that very same money to buy a house and have no state income tax.
So needless to say, this summer I pulled the trigger and moved.
I have to tell you, what was hard was leaving the family and everything that was familiar to me, but what was a no-brainer was the instant pay raise, ridding myself of the highest marginal state income tax in the country, which is 13.3%.
This isn’t even taking into consideration that the cost of living is cheaper, from housing, groceries, insurance, fuel, and a number of other things that cesspool states like California get away with gouging their citizens with.
Now, not only is life less expensive in Texas, the ability to pay your bills is more of a reality because the unemployment rate of 4.5% is underneath the national average of 4.9%, and significantly below California’s 5.4% rate.
Let’s not talk even start on traffic and crowds.
There is a Mass Exodus…
According to IRS migration data, which uses individual income tax returns to record year-to-year address changes, over 250,000 California residents moved out of the state between 2013 and 2014, the latest period for which data was available. The tax returns reported more than $21 billion in adjusted gross income to the IRS. Out of the 250,000 that left, 33,626 moved to Texas, taking with them $2.19 billion in adjusted gross income. All I can say is ouch, Governor Brown…
Meanwhile, because of California’s entitlement program’s magnetic force, the state is importing poor individuals that need government assistance faster than net producers into its economy. It has the nation’s highest poverty rate, with proportionately 47% more people living in poverty than in Texas.
Since 2007, Texas has been the top destination for Californians, and right now, the number of Californians moving to Texas has hit its highest level in nearly a decade.
In additional to all of the above, I think what put me over the top was the “millionaires tax” that Los Angeles county is trying to impose on high income earners in addition to the federal and state taxes these people already pay.
What I have come to realize is that the parasites in government have no boundaries and will take what isn’t theirs, with no regard for my liberty.
I am only left wondering how third-world California will get before it falls in the deepest pits of the Pacific Ocean… Sadly, I don’t think that time is too far off.
Prosperous Regards,
Kenneth Ameduri
Chief Editor, CrushTheStreet.com
See here for my latest interview with Harry Dent as we discuss inflation and deflation and his shocking conclusions as to why he thinks gold is going to $600. Interview here…
Also released over the weekend is my interview with James Turk, who takes us to school on why gold is, in fact, money. Interview here…