Are the wealthy really leaving NJ? Study says yes [moving to states with lower taxes]

CNBC ^ | March 19, 2014 | Robert Frank

[southernnorthcarolina]

I don’t know if you are correct with your observations, but it’s certainly is refreshing to hear someone argue the issue from the upbeat side you have chosen.

Well, thanks. I don't want to come across as blindly optimistic, either with regard to the nation as a whole or with regard to my state, but I just don't accept the meme that "the blue state Yankees are moving to the South, and turning our states blue, too." At least in North Carolina, voting statistics do not support that theory.

This is not to say that everything is rosy for Republicans in NC. At least since 1988, the Republican Presidential candidate has run stronger in NC than in the nation as a whole -- by 9% in 1988, 6% in 1992, 14% in 1996, 13% in 2000, 10% in 2004, 7% in 2008, and 6% in 2012. Some attribute the recent downward drift to, as Aunt Pittypat would have said, "Yankees in North Carolina!" I do not agree. The reason for the falloff is, in predominate part, the fact that President Obama is black; as such, he elicited a huge surge in black turnout.

The state's two largest counties, Mecklenburg and Wake, are indeed trending in the Democratic direction. Charlotte is not yet Detroit South, nor even close to it, but is becoming a blue city surrounded by red suburbs, just like dozens of metro areas nationwide. The suburban/exurban counties, in addition to the resort-heavy counties along the coast, in the Sandhills, and in the mountains, are growing rapidly, and trending strongly in the Republican direction -- all, to continue the theme, areas of "Yankee infiltration."

[Sooth2222]

For most income brackets New Jersey doesn't really have an income tax problem. I believe the state income tax rates are lower than all of the neighboring states, except in the very highest bracket.

New Jersey's income tax might be a little lower than the New York City's combined rates but definitely higher then Pennsylvania's 3.07% -- it's nearly three times the tax on those "one percenters" -- 8.98% -- that they are chasing away. Delaware's income taxes are lower, too, although not by that much.

The state has income tax rates comparable to North Carolina, but New Jersey also has a high sales tax, astronomically high property taxes and a fairly hefty death tax. (I also believe it's the only state that one needs to pay a toll to leave when traveling either east or west. Many say it's well worth it to get out, tho.)