California, New Jersey and New York are enforcing strict new tax requirements and floating aggressive wealth taxes to penalize residents trying to relocate to lower-tax states. When we left Jersey, beofre we left we rented for three years. Had we left right after selling our last house there, we'da hada $ 26,000 +tax nut to crack. Fuck that.
California's looming 2026 wealth tax and strict residency audits are directly targeting the net worth of those attempting to pack up and leave.
New York is aggressively challenging departure claims, ensuring anyone keeping even a second home is hit with massive state tax bills.
All three states are making it legally and financially painful to move, treating departing citizens like tax fugitives rather than free Americans.
The heavy-handed policies are only accelerating the mass exodus of families and businesses fleeing to free states like Florida and Texas.
It is a funny thing to watch politicians build a cage and then wonder why everyone is trying to fly the coop. Down here in Florida, we know that if you have to threaten folks with a massive financial penalty just to keep them from moving away, your policies probably aren't working too well.
You cannot tax a state into prosperity, and you sure can't treat your citizens like hostages just because they are tired of footing the bill for bad decisions. If the folks out West and up North spent half as much time fixing their real problems as they do hunting down the people trying to escape them, maybe families would actually want to stick around.
Thanks to Florida Hillbilly for the graphic and inspiration.
i was under the impression that only the federal government could regulate trade between states.
ReplyDeleteNone of those 'charges' are new or unexpected and some are bull. I had no 'exit interview' with the FTB when I moved out of state. The rest are under 'no s**t Sherlock'. You owe property tax on your house until it sells, you don't get a refund on car registration, final utility bills are the same. The big thing is married couples can shelter $500,000 of the profits from selling their California house and that goes a long way towards paying for new housing.
ReplyDeleteAi-generated rage bait.
Absolutely. Well said.
DeleteSo glad I got my mom out of there in 2016. She had no other choice given her Alzheimer's which I certainly couldn't care for from another state. So happy that everyone I love is now out of that hellhole.
ReplyDeleteExit interview fee?
ReplyDeleteAbsolute bullshit. Is this a free country or not?
DeleteWhy the hell do I need a smog test if I'm leaving? What if the car fails?
Deletemy 2 uncles went out there in the 30's. did very well with small farms and whatnot. both left the state in the late 1980's
ReplyDeleteas they both said "its getting nuts" both made out very well selling their small farms= big bucks to home builders.
and the state wasn't nearly as bad as it is now. I have some family still there I think, but most of them left about 20 years ago. shame as it was nice in 1980 when I was out that way for a while.
before I moved to the hills of PA. I looked at real estate in New York state. land prices where low, looked good. UNTIL I found out about the taxes there. it is no wonder why land prices where low, everyone with half a brain wants out of there !
While I feel sorry for the minority in NY, NJ, and Cal who didnt vote for Communism, I couldnt give a shit less for those who did vote for Communism....they wanted it, they have it. Coming soon to MinnesoDUH. The dipshits here are too stupid to learn. ""Hey free shit" and they pull the Commie lever.
ReplyDeleteSoounds like what it cost Jews to leave Nazi Germany before WWII.
ReplyDeleteMust have gotten the tax idea from Spain, the country. The government taxes families for selling their family home at 50% or more. California, left in 1997 would never move back because I have been back and it is not the same anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were looking at retirement, we did a very simple search: the U haul index, state tax policies (total tax regardless of how generated), climate, and cost of living. That killed about 47 states instantly. We did not look at 'cost of leaving' -sunk cost fallacy - or pay any attention to the many 'great place to live' surveys (which are all biased). In retrospect, the U haul index wasn't needed. EVERY state has both urban and rural venues; EVERY state has some climate problems; total cost of government and cost of living, unless one is very wealthy, will identify the high probabilities. Notice that medical care wasn't in the list: that's mostly a rural/urban decision. States rated 'lousy' always have a good spot or two (rural Ga vs metro Atlanta for example).
ReplyDelete