Last Tuesday, the California’s Legislative Analyst Office reported on the 2020 Migration data released by the IRS. This has sent chills through political circles.
Just as it should.
While in the past, outmigration tended to be more pronounced among lower-income Californians, in recent years the state has seen an increase in net outflows across all income brackets. In the past, outmigration spikes have often been associated with rapid rises in living costs.
The IRS recently released data about taxpayer migration in 2020, which was the beginning of the pandemic. The data shows that there was a net migration of approximately 260,000 taxpayers (0.8%) of all taxpayers in 2020. This is an increase from the 165,000 taxpayers who were 0.5%) in 2019. This net migration likely accounts for a little over 1% of state income taxes revenues. It is approximately twice the forgone revenue associated with migration in 2019.
District 6 Assemblyman and Congressional candidate Kevin Kiley (R-Rockin) mentioned this in his blog, noting the numbers on internal migration in the state from lockdown counties like Los Angeles to the more free and independent counties that rejected Governor Gavin Newsom’s emergency declarations and COVID theater and instead chose to sign on to the Health Communities Resolution introduced by Kiley and fellow Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). This Resolution requires local control in matters that impact the livelihood and well-being of residents. The Resolution also demands that elected officials collaborate with citizens to create policies that reflect science and empirical evidence. Not a “one-size fits all” approach, which is not supported by real data and does more harm than good. Most of the fourteen or so counties which adopted the Resolution in the midst of the pandemic are located to the North. The exceptions were Orange County, San Luis Obispo, and Orange County.
The IRS just released new data showing that we lost 260,000 taxpayers abroad, resulting in twice as much revenue than any previous year. This is clearly not sustainable.
However, the report did not reveal migration patterns. Inside California. Just as people are leaving the Lockdown State of California for the Freedom States of Florida, Texas, and Idaho, they are also leaving California’s Lockdown Counties for its Freedom Counties.
Take a look at Healthy Communities Counties. These are counties that have passed the Healthy Communities Resolution I wrote with James Gallagher in 2020. The Resolution was both a protest to mandates and an affirmation of local control.
El Dorado and Placer passed it first. Next came several North State counties and finally, fourteen counties in California, as far as Orange. (See the Resolution and list of counties here)
The IRS Data shows that almost all Healthy Communities are covered by the IRS. The county saw an increase in its population while the hyper-lockdown areas of LA, SF, Santa Clara and Santa Clara lost their residents. This truly is an indicator of changes.
So soon, all that will be left in Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, and Sacramento County are the drug-addicted and the mentally ill—housed and unhoused—illegals, and the political class.
Cal Matters was also concerned about the loss of high-income taxpayers in California.
After 170 years of population growth — occasionally explosive growth — California is now experiencing population loss for the first time.
While foreign migration and birth rates have declined, net state-to–state migration losses are not being offset. Since 2010, 7.5 million people have left California while 5.9 million people have come from other states.
It raises the following question: Why is California being left?
“Most people who move across state lines do so for housing, job, or family reasons,” Hans Johnson, a demographer for the Public Policy Institute of California, wrote earlier this year. Johnson noted that Californians who are unable to move back to California often have lower education levels than the Californians. It is no surprise, given California’s dominant motivations to migrate there for work and housing.
There is, however, a less obvious subset of those who leave California — high-income families seeking relief from the state’s notoriously high taxes.
Assembly Bill 2088 was introduced by the California Legislature in 2020. It aimed to establish a wealth-tax based on how many days someone lived in California. The tax, which would be charged annually, was based on an individual’s current net worth. It also includes wealth earned or inherited long ago, as well as any inheritances or gifts made to the state.
The bill failed (big surprise), however, the greedy political classes are not resting on their laurels. The Unions can’t fund all things, it is obvious.
Proposition 30 is the latest money grab, now on the November 2022 ballot, that would boost the top marginal tax rate to over 15 percent to raise money for programs to battle… Klima change Newsom’s intrusive hand at work once again.
The California Legislature also plans to increase tax rates for 2024. Only then will they be forced to stop, unless there are no tax-paying citizens.
The well-off have found less lucrative states for their residences over the past two decades.
We taxpayers are still paying the freight.
The San Francisco Chronicle shed some light on that phenomenon when one of its reporters dove into Internal Revenue Service data that revealed favorite destinations of high-income former San Franciscans.
According to the newspaper, 39,000 San Franciscans had previously filed 2018 federal tax returns but had left before they could file 2019 returns. The collective income of the three million San Franciscans was $10.6 billion. However, those who moved into the city in that time period had only $3.8 billion.
About Post Author
