
I’ve frequently argued that differences in state income tax rates help to explain interstate migration patterns, especially for high-income individuals, Places like Tennessee, Texas and Florida are drawing residents from more highly taxes areas. Bloomberg reporter Jonathan Levin recently made the following claim about Jeff Bezos’s decision to move to Florida:
Lastly, I’d be remiss to ignore taxes completely. Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, recently approved a new 7% capital gains tax targeting investment profits over $250,000, and that always stood to have a big impact on Bezos, who has sold down billions in Amazon.com stock over the years. In March, after the state Supreme Court upheld the new tax, his fellow Washington billionaire Ken Fisher announced (with characteristic grandstanding) that he was moving his money-management firm to zero-state-tax Texas. Bezos didn’t mention taxes explicitly, but the math must have crossed his mind.
Perhaps Bloomberg editors were unhappy with his article, as they added the following headline:
Bezos’ Miami Move Is Not About Washington’s Taxes
The billionaire is returning to a city where he went to high school and where his parents live — it’s as simple as that.
Really, that simple? (Most people probably never look beyond the headline.)
PS. On September 24, Bloomberg published an article full of nonsensical made-up figures. Nearly six weeks later, they have yet to correct the article. Do they have an editor?
READER COMMENTS
Andrew_FL
Nov 4 2023 at 6:58pm
Obviously taxes are one of Bezos’ motivations. Miami also happens to be where he went to High School so he has history here.
Matthias
Nov 4 2023 at 8:42pm
Apropos Bloomberg, compare also “KPMG lodges complaint after AI-generated material was used to implicate them in non-existent scandals”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/03/kpmg-ai-complaint-non-existent-scandal-ai-case-studies-google-bard
Scott Sumner
Nov 4 2023 at 11:25pm
I fear we’ll be seeing a lot more of that sort of thing, especially in academia. Which AI will earn the first PhD?
Thomas L Hutcheson
Nov 5 2023 at 11:56am
“On September 24, Bloomberg published an article full of nonsensical made-up figures. ”
Have you though about putting notices of that sort of thing on a Substack Notes? I did not see it on you blog and it’s easier to pass on from Notes anyway.
Scott Sumner
Nov 6 2023 at 9:57am
I did an entire blog post, pointing out that the column was nonsense.
Thomas L Hutcheson
Nov 7 2023 at 6:55am
Sorry. I missed it or maybe just forgot 🙁
steve
Nov 5 2023 at 6:21pm
New Hampshire and Delaware both have lower tax burdens than Florida, Texas and Tennessee. Why arent they getting lots of people moving in?
Steve
Scott Sumner
Nov 6 2023 at 10:00am
New Hampshire now has horrible housing policies. It was growing rapidly back when it allowed housing construction. Delaware is growing fast by “northeastern states standards”.
But the key isn’t total tax burden, it’s income taxes.
dave schutz
Nov 7 2023 at 9:56pm
Income taxes, yes, but Bezos with a fortune of a hundred and sixty billion was staring down the barrel of a state senator’s attempt to enact a one per cent per year wealth tax: https://www.geekwire.com/2023/washington-state-senator-behind-wealth-tax-proposal-responds-to-bezos-departure/ so that would be about a billion and a half per year if she succeeds.
Jon Murphy
Nov 6 2023 at 12:28pm
On top of Scott and robc’s point [below], one thing about New Hampshire is the climate isn’t great. Don’t get me wrong: I lived in Concord for 5 years and I loved every minute of it. NH has a ton going for it. But from October to about April, it is cold, cloudy, and wet. As much as I loved it, there is a reason I have been moving steadily South since ’16.
robc
Nov 5 2023 at 8:01pm
State-local tax burden by state, 2022 (first link in google search):
#3 TN 7.6%
#6 TX 8.6%
#11 FL 9.1%
#16 NH 9.6%
#42 DE 12.4%
Do you have different numbers? Really, it depends on your mix of income/property/consumption and which city exactly. But your point seems way off, at least for DE.
robc
Nov 5 2023 at 8:02pm
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state-2022/
Link, and that was supposed to be a reply to steve.
steve
Nov 6 2023 at 7:35pm
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494#expert=Jordan_Barry
Steve
Jon Murphy
Nov 6 2023 at 7:47pm
Interesting. It looks like the differences in the rankings come from different methods. The Tax Foundation link robc uses looks at all taxes paid by residents, both to their state and to other states/governments. Wallet Hub looks only at personal taxes.
robc
Nov 7 2023 at 11:35am
To clarify Jon’s point, here is what taxfoundation says:
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