A Decade of Moving Next Door
I’ve been following taxpayer migration data for years, but in a haphazard way. A new study that I’ve coauthored for the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity finally gave me the opportunity to review all fifteen years of available data from the IRS.
The picture — from the 2003 beginning of what can only be described as an exodus — is frightening. After accounting for the tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders who moved to other states and other taxpayers who moved in the opposite direction, Rhode Island lost 24,455 households, with $1.2 billion of annual income (not inflation adjusted). More conspicuously, a net 3,406 taxpayers moved right across the border, to abutting counties in Massachusetts and Connecticut, taking with them $254.5 million in annual adjusted gross income (AGI).
Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
Nothing new here. I cannot find the figures, but the last census confirmed that RI and Mass had been losing white population while their populations grew. The loss had been about 10% per decade, which slowed a few years prior to the 2010 census. This is believed to be the result of a sluggish economy not producing jobs in other areas.
I remember posting this on several boards (it was germane to an ongoing series of posts, particularly on a Audi board) at the time the figures were released. I was roundly condemned for being a racist. Fact is, this is important because we know what race the “high earners” are.
The average price of RI real estate was higher than eastern Ct.’s in much of the time Justin is using. I don’t know about how southeastern Ma. compares with RI.