Saturday, April 30, 2011

Rightist Mythology, Somewhat Debunked

Well, since this comes from de Rugy, it's going to require attention.

Myth 1: Wealthy people pack up and move when their taxes increase.

Fact 1: High taxes generally do not cause the wealthy to move.

Migration is about the same for those with net worth >$1million as it is for everyone else.

This one is a bit more problematic:

Myth 2: Blue states are big government states and red states are small government states.

Fact 2:
Blue states are net payers, meaning residents pay more in income tax than they get back from the federal government, while red states are net recipients. Only one red state pays more into the system than it gets.

'Whether recipient of Fed largesse or not-recipient' is not exactly the question, and the presence of umpty-multiple military establishments across the South and West greatly affects the "Fed largesse" numbers.

Myth 3: The federal income tax may be progressive but the rest of the tax system is not, particularly the payroll tax.

Fact 3: The entire tax system is progressive.

Another somewhat cloudy "fact", because the label 'progressive' applies only after one considers the (expected) SocSec payout that one will (?) receive on retirement. While it works for the cohort selected (born in 1940), it may not work for a cohort born in, say, 1975.

Worth discussing anyway.

HT: McCain

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