Expect more Californication

I have no problem with California and New York City jacking up their tax rates to the Moon… so long as they keep their residents there:

Gerald Prante, an economics professor at Lynchburg College in Virginia, and Austin John, a Lynchburg economics student, calculated marginal tax rates — the highest rates on the highest levels of income — for all 50 states. They combined state, federal and, where applicable, local income taxes, plus payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare and included the deductibility of some taxes.

Proposition 30 added three percentage points to the marginal state income tax rate for California’s highest-income taxpayers, bringing it to 13.3 percent. That action raised California over other high-tax jurisdictions to a marginal rate of 51.9 percent, slightly higher than New York City’s level. Hawaii was the only other place with a calculated rate above 50 percent.

The problem, of course, is that higher taxes cause left-leaning voters who support them to flee those high-tax jurisdictions, who then Californicate their new places of residence.  And so the disease spreads.  Given that border walls present their own evils and are not presently possible without secession, I think the problem is best resolved by not permitting anyone with less than 18 years residence to vote on state and local affairs.  The mechanism is already there in the age-related voting laws, just make them dependent upon 18 years of residence rather than age.

One would hope that after 18 years, either some sense would have been inculcated into them, or more likely, they would have moved on again.