We recently came across some simple charts from the Tax Foundation that simply and effectively illustrate why businesses are fleeing states like California by the 1,000s.
In the first chart, the Tax Foundation presents data from The Bureau of Economic Analysis to compare purchasing power of $100 depending which state you live in. Ironically, the map turned out to look eerily similar to recent electoral college maps of Presidential elections with the Democrat-leaning northeast and west coast areas getting less bang for their buck compared to the southeast and mid-west. Could it be that rather than voting their desires to cling to “guns and religion,” to quote President Obama, that Americans in the southeast and mid-west are actually voting to preserve a higher standard of life that doesn’t require them to spend $2mm on an 800 square foot apartment? But we digress.
Ironically, the second chart which illustrates tax rates by state looks very similar to the first. The highest taxed states (dark blue) are in the northeast and west coast with lower tax structures in the southeast and mid-west.
