Moving their wealth to Texas

NY Post:

The Lone Star State is scooping up more than just our congressional seats -- some $846 million in personal income shifted from New York to Texas in an eight-year period during the last decade, according to an analysis of IRS tax returns.

Texas, which has no state or local income taxes and an enviably low cost of living, has been steadily poaching New Yorkers since the '90s, according to data from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research organization based in Washington.

From 2000 to 2008, more than $846 million in personal income moved from New York to Texas -- with more than $212 million leaving in 2006 and '07.

New York lost an estimated $38.4 billion in personal income to other states in that same time period, while Texas gained roughly $12.2 billion from migration.

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California is making a similar contribution to Texas wealth creation. The migration from New York has been going on for a long time. I remember talking with a guy in the late 70's who had made the move. He said housing alone made the move worthwhile. He could live in what would be a mansion in New York and he said most Texans would not live in what the equivalent cost housing would be in New York. Then in the early 80s Houston freeways were jammed with cars with Ohio and Michigan tags. At Astros games with the Cubs it was sometimes hard to tell who was the home crowd. Most of these people now consider themselves Texans.