Free Republic

The United States Census Bureau released its annual state-by-state population estimates for 2018 in late December. It highlights migration trends across the states and sketches a picture of looming political changes that will take place after the complete Census of 2020. Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Arizona led the way this past year in overall population growth as a percentage of population. Once again, Texas and Florida were the big winners in overall population gains, with the Lone Star State gaining more than 379,000 residents from 2017-18 and the Sunshine State posting a gain of more than 322,000. The big net...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently complained that the cap on the SALT (state and local tax) deduction is causing people to flee New York. That’s like a recent college graduate complaining that his parents’ decision to cut off his monthly allowance has forced him to get a job and face a budget. It’s not the new SALT cap causing New Yorkers to flee. Even before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited the SALT deduction to $10,000, New York’s population fell by 1.9 million from 2005 to 2016. Rather, if anything, it would be the state’s high taxes. At $6,993 per...

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to crack down on states that try to circumvent a new limit on the state and local tax deduction, saying on Wednesday that it will not allow local governments to find creative ways to help individuals fully deduct those taxes. The I.R.S. warning comes in response to states, like New York, that have looked for ways to blunt the impact of a new $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT. The cap, which was included in last year’s $1.5 trillion Republican tax overhaul, hit predominantly Democratic, high-tax...