How Money Walks: How $2 Trillion Moved Between the States, and Why it Matters

Very technical (redundantly so) and slightly heavy on the numbers.I'll excuse the redundancy because this is a topic that doesn't get nearly enough attention. If more people were aware of the disparity in the cost of living that various places offer, especially with regard to taxation - I believe the states who are doing it better for less would be more rewarded and the states doing more for exorbitant taxation would be more greatly penalized through migration out of their respective states.Our family is moving this year out of Illinois to Tennessee and "How Money Walks" details many of the reasons why. Our family and friends will still primarily be in Illinois, but we are constantly trying to convince them to look at the data to lead them to their own conclusions to move out.There are so many choices in this wonderful country to live for less and thus allowing to contribute to ones future years needs.

Some people have said for years, "You can chart on a map, people moving from high-tax states to low-tax states." Well, now someone has done it. With this book, the corresponding website, [...], and a mobile app, Travis Brown has given anyone the ability to see how their state, county or city is faring, in terms of economic opportunity, compared to other places around the country.Wealth-creation is not always a zero-sum game, but some states and locales are winners and some are losers in the competition to attract working wealth, represented in this book by adjusted gross income (AGI) as measured by the IRS. In my state, Oklahoma, we lost nearly $1 billion in working wealth, along with over 33,000 productive taxpaying citizens, between 1992 and 2010. The majority of that financial capital -- and the accompanying jobs and opportunity -- went to two states, Texas and Florida, that have no personal income tax. In other words, they do not penalize their citizens for working. In Oklahoma, we charge a penalty of over 5% on people who get up and go to work each day. Interestingly enough, however, Oklahoma began to climb out of its wealth-loss hole in 2005, precisely when the largest income tax rate reduction in state history was signed into law and began to take effect.

Nearly everyone loathes high taxes. Most of us are content to complain about them and few of us devote much thought to actual consequences. In fact, much tax policy discussion revolves around economic theory and - outside of government halls - it is one of those theoretical topics we'd just soon forget. Like college algebra, perhaps.Every separate state collects taxes which compound federal income taxes. In other words, state taxes add to total citizen tax burdens, but they rise from different sources. Some states impose an income tax, but others don't. Florida is an interesting example of a state without income taxes, but the thriving tourist industry there also provides substantial other tax revenues. Florida residents enjoy very low state taxes.Other states collect high income taxes, plus high municipal and/or property taxes, too. Sales taxes add to that burden, too. Add those chunks to federal income taxes and residents pay a sizable portion of their income in total taxes.Surprisingly, outside of a few academics posing theoretical questions, no one seemed to notice how taxes influence shifts in population.From 1995 to 2010, over $2 trillion of personal income (all sources) migrated from high income tax states to low income tax states. Those numbers are solid. Travis Brown analyzed fifteen years of IRS tax return data along with various state tax policies. The beauty of this book lies in simple explanations and easy-to-read data. His impeccable data points to a likely conclusion: people relocate from states with higher income taxes to states with lower (or no) income taxes. A very large and prosperous group of people.The presentation is even-handed. The numbers speak for themselves and Brown is careful not to impose political rhetoric or even claim absolute proof that taxes are the reason for population shifts. Rather, he offers a collection of possible reasons, even though it's hard to argue against taxation rates being one of them. It's up to the reader to decide, but this reader found the evidence to be very strong.My guess is that this book will have a very large impact on state tax policies around the nation. The evidence is simply too compelling to ignore.

I loved the fact that this book was data driven - based on 15 years of IRS data. It was not based on forecasts, conjecture or ideology.I have bought extra copies to give to state legislators and others in (Georgia) state government. This book should be required reading for every state legislator and policy maker in the nation.

Travis Brown provides hard data to illustrate the truth that money really does walk--to states that enact enlightened tax policies--from states that have bloated payrolls and regressive tax policies that punish hard work and savings. For bonus points, head to the website to drill down to your own county and cringe at the 'transfers of wealth' that are taking place under your nose. This book is at once a primer on the consequences of tax policies and a call to action for reformers to stop the fiscal bleeding.

An important studyon an important topic. Travis Brown offers as on careful examination of tax and demographic data, showing how people and businesses migrate from cities and states with high tax rates to those where the cost local of government is more reasonable

Travis Brown has taken a mountain of statistics, organized the numbers and presented them so anyone can see where taxation drives people away or attracts people to change addresses. The state by state explanations confirms what you already suspected. Taxes are maybe the biggest reason people live where they do. Thank you Travis Brown.

A wonkish book with excellent data showing how state and local tax burdens affect people's choices about where to live. You have to be a policy geek to stay with the text and all the numbers Brown throws at you in these pages, but well worth it if you're trying to understand how to generate more economic activity in your state.