I hope Saagar Enjeti isn’t too political in this video:
Good chance they’ll help turn TX, FL, AZ, at least purple in the near future, perhaps true blue in the longer run.
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You can only fleece people with high taxes for so long…and the ridiculous crime rates make it a no brainer…
The video cites the 2020 census data, which probably has a few issues of undercounts and overcounts - the count period was shortened, certain people excluded, etc.
The video’s conclusions about general trends may well be true, but it may be off because of census data errors. We don’t know!
And the trend of people moving out of CA and into the south has been happening even before the census, so it’s not really news.
The crime rates are kinda mixed
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state
And it looks like you have to pay higher taxes for better health
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/health-care/public-health
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People look at tax rates as if it is the one single consideration for a place to live. Certainly certain states are high tax (NY, CA, etc). But some of these “low tax” states can be expensive for reasons other than income/sales taxes. I keep hearing about how TX property taxes and energy costs are awful. And FL, the insurance rates are crazier than some of the people there (!)
So, yes, taxes need to be considered, but other costs must be evaluated too.
I kind of figure they get you one way or another – if it’s not income tax, it’s some other tax or fee, or by having no services at all.
I live in a “high-tax” state (high property tax, not too high income tax, sales tax). But there are also many services included that people don’t get in a low-tax state. And the schools are much better than low-tax states. While I don’t have kids in school, good schools make for good communities, which people these days don’t seem to remember. I gladly pay for better schools, which makes property values and quality of life better for everyone. People who claim to care about kids and families are often the ones who are trying to dismantle public education, which is part of what made this country great.
Also, my high-tax state has rebate and freeze programs for property taxes (depending on income level, age), to make it more affordable, plus a tax deduction for property taxes, too. But anyone “researching” my state would write it off as “ridiculous, high tax”, but they don’t know about these other programs for regular folks – it’s like they just look at the income/property tax/sales tax rates and decide. Or they read an article by a disgruntled resident or watch a video by a talking head with an agenda (original video above) which just confirms their own bias. So much for “research”, if you already have an opinion and find confirmation of it.
No state is perfect, but often you get what you pay for.
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