Low-Tax States Are Big Census Winners

Cal Thomas | Syndicated Columnist | Updated: Dec 30, 2010

Low-Tax States Are Big Census Winners

December 27, 2010

Figures from this year's census are starting to come out. One set of statistics is particularly interesting. Guess which states lost population and what characterized all of them? The states from which people moved were New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Missouri, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Louisiana and Iowa. What do they all have in common? As Dick Morris has noted: high taxes.

Texas, which has the second lowest taxes in the country, gained four congressional seats, which means a large influx in new residents. Florida picked up two seats. Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington state each gained one seat. All of these states have low, or no state income tax.

People are fed-up with government that never has enough of their money. They're tired of being told by politicians that if they succeed after years of hard work they have to handover the fruits of their success to government which will redistribute it to people who didn't earn it. We can't all escape federal taxes, but we can escape high state taxes and from the census figures that is precisely what more people are doing. Now about the spending!

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

Low-Tax States Are Big Census Winners