Due to the declining population numbers, the Boston Globe reports, Massachusetts will likely have to give up at least one U.S. House seat after the 2010 Census. However, liberal Rep. Michael Capuano apparently seems to think migration happens in a vacuum:
"I haven’t got any control over it, so why worry about it?’’ said Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville. “I don’t think there’s anyone around who has figured out how to stop the population flow to the Southwest."
Well, maybe he should read our Cost of Government Day 2009 Report.
In our report, we not only highlighted the spending and regulatory burdens imposed by all levels of government, we also included a section on inter-state migration, which clearly shows that taxpayers vote with their feet. Liberal politicians, however don’t seem to get it, which explains why Cost of Government Day comes notoriously late for states in the tax-and-spend-happy Northeastern states.
Taxpayers are leaving higher-tax states and take billions of dollars in income with them. Between 1998-2007, the ten states with the highest tax burden (many of which are in the Northeast of the country) lost more than 3 million residents taking $82 billion of net-adjusted income with them to other states. During the same period, the states with no income tax saw an influx of 2.6 million migrants bringing in $98.5 billion in income.
So are Northeastern liberals just clueless, do they simply not care, or maybe even both?
H/T Andy Roth