Justin - I do not agree with everything and I agree in whole on some things on this website, but I check in with it for one main reason - I believe all of you truly want a better, improved RI and you all live here and are working toward that. These letters from people who have moved do not help the discussion they are so one sided - it appears the trash turns to gold in Idaho. My wife has family in Idaho and I have been there, it is very nice but like all places has its problems. My wife's two cousins "RAN - SPRINTED" out of Idaho at the age of 18 and now live in the Southern CA area. They would NEVER go back. I think you do a good job on this site, just do not know if this type of communication helps.

I have a friend in Barrington that spent 10 years in Washington (the state not DC). He moved back without a job (found one in about 6 weeks) and tells me moving back was the best thing he ever did. Enjoyed Washington and did well there, moving back to RI was the best moved he made - his words.

Well, the first letter was from somebody considering moving out, not somebody who's already left. I'd further argue that investigating what makes people leave is helpful in determining how to make the state a better place to live.

That said, I am actively seeking broad and alternative views on life in and out of Rhode Island, with any political tilt or conclusion. Your friend's view would make for edifying reading, I'm sure.

Mark - A continuous argument made by the "cabal of insiders" referred to in the letter and the progressive "useful idiots" who support them is that taxes don't matter because nobody considers them when deciding where to live. These letters and the comments they generate are proof to the contrary. Combined with the population loss/stagnation statistics from Census data, it creates a powerful argument against Rhode Island's central economic planning, pro-union, high tax policies as destructive to the state economy.

RIFuture has a post up this week on why Providence is an awesome place to live. The reasons are listed as follows: 1)indie arts, 2)indie music, 3)...

Ok, so if you're a punk rocker or self-employed graphic designer, then Rhode Island is a cool place to live. Especially since you can probably scam the state by collecting extremely generous welfare or unemployment payments at the same time and nobody is every going to inspect or audit you. For everyone else, finding a real job tends to be problematic.

Does anybody ever wonder how so many hair salons/nail salons/tanning salons can co-exist in this state?
The answer is....they do not pay taxes.
They scam the system to the point where they can all stay in business.
It just goes to show you that high taxes do matter...and low taxes are good for business. Case in point.

"hair salons/nail salons/tanning salons can co-exist in this state?
The answer is....they do not pay taxes".

Posted by Mike Cappelli at March 13, 2012 4:18 PM

all of them...100 %...
no exceptions.... NONE !! !

Tanning salons don't pay taxes? I must be sending thousands quarterly to some IRS and State of RI Division of Taxation imposters.

And it's freakin' cold in Idaho.

Yeah michael, I'm sure you're sending in "thousands quarterly." Right!

The IRS has estimated for decades that basically all small business owners in the US are grossly underreporting their income and overstating their costs. Based on my limited but above average knowledge of tax law, I would be surprised if anything else were the case. I can only imagine the extent to which small businesses in RI are scamming their local taxes. If they are still in business after a decade, that's a pretty good indication that they've learned to play the game. I don't fault them for that, although I question their sanity for locating in Rhode Island in the first place.