Democratic states are so poorly run that they are imposing steeper wealth taxes, and even exit taxes, to gouge residents for money to save their failing budgets.
Multiple Democratic states are looking for more money to throw into their furnace of ever-increasing spending. Washington is imposing a “millionaire tax,” a dubiously legal proposal that follows a series of tax increases on capital gains, payroll, and other financial sources, running its richest residents out of the state. Washington’s budget has more than doubled over the past decade, including a 500% increase in Medicaid spending since 2013. Rather than cut spending, Washington has chosen to tax its population into the ground, and into U-Hauls headed toward other states.
PROGRESSIVES IN WASHINGTON, CALIFORNIA, AND HAWAII WANT TO SQUEEZE THE WEALTHY
Hawaii is on the verge of jacking up taxes on all kinds of things, including repealing income tax cuts that the state passed just two years ago. Spending in Illinois has been out of control for years, with the state imposing “temporary” taxes that never seem to stay temporary to try and cover the spending gap. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is looking forward to another $589 million in tax hikes this year. Michigan has been circling a wealth tax as well, though the group pushing it has placed it on the back burner, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is begging rich former residents to come back so she can take more of their money.
And then there is California, the most wasteful state with the most absurd tax proposal in the country. California is also proposing a “one-time” wealth tax, which everyone knows will be imposed more than just the one time. But the state has also designed it as a retroactive exit tax, trying to leech the people who leave the state before the tax is even passed. The pending proposal has already chased an estimated 30% of its tax targets out of the state, but California is hoping to charge them an exit fee anyway, which would plunge the state into a costly legal battle on top of everything.
DEMOCRATS SEEK TO PUNISH VOTERS FLEEING THEIR FAILED POLICIES
And you know what more legal costs for the state mean? That’s right, more taxes to cover the spending gap.
All of these states are flailing to save their dying tax-and-spend models because the Democrats running them continue to waste taxpayer dollars. Rather than cut wasteful spending, Democrats want to take more money from residents to waste on useless programs or bloated bureaucracies, which is why those residents are fleeing to states such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and others. The Democratic governance model simply does not work, and these states are proving it, one “temporary” tax and exit tax at a time.