“Taxes Not Seen as Making the Rich Flee New York,” concluded a 2009 analysis/article in the New York Times that looked at the data behind the claims. The Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report reached the same conclusion in February 2011: “New York’s Vanishing Millionaires – and Other Myths” was how the Journal summed it up.
Even E.J. McMahon of the right-wing Manhattan Institute concedes the point. “I kind of clench my teeth every time [then-Gov.] Paterson says people will leave,” he told the Times in 2009. “It is the selling point. It’s also a dumb point,” McMahon said. “Nobody says your wealthy enclaves will shrink dramatically.”
The authors of the Princeton study noted the difficulty of pinning down the motivating factors for migration patterns. But here’s what they did determine: people moving out of New Jersey are more likely to be on the lower end of the income scale, and move to places with lower housing costs. Similarly, a 2007 study by the New York City Comptroller looked at population data for a recent period when New York City temporarily increased income taxes on top earners (2003-2005). According to the New York Times, the city’s study found that “households with incomes of $250,000 and higher were the least likely to leave.”
http://www.alternet.org/story/150595..._the_other_way



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