Taxes: Income Evidence

Millionaire Migration and State Taxation of Top Incomes: Evidence From A Natural Experiment

06/01/2011

Cristobal Young and Charles Varner. National Tax Journal. June 2011.

“Millionaire Migration and State Taxation of Top Incomes: Evidence From A Natural Experiment” takes a look at what happened when New Jersey raised the tax rate on top earners by 2.6 percentage points (one of the highest rates in the United States). They find very little migratory responsiveness among the population affected.

The Impact of Taxes on Migration in New England

04/01/2011

Jeffery Thompson. Political Economy Research Institute. April 2011.

“The Impact of Taxes on Migration in New England” finds that taxation has very limited impact population movement (in fact, he finds that more than half of Americans never live anywhere other than the state where they were born).

Maryland Millionaires Vanish in the Face of Recession, Not Higher Taxes

05/29/2009

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. May 29, 2009.

Where Have All of Maryland's Millionaires Gone? finds that Maryland's 2007 and 2008 tax hikes on the rich did not cause millionaires to flee. Although tax returns filed by millionaires declined in the year after the legislation passed, the culprit wasn’t rising taxes, it was the economic downturn.

Conservative Commentator Examines the History of Right-Wing Tax Cut Hypocrisy

02/27/2009

Bruce Bartlett. Forbes. February 27, 2009.

"Higher Taxes: Will the Republicans Cry Wolf on Taxes Again?" explores the history of hard right opposition to raising taxes of any kind, showing that reactionary predictions of economic apocalypse didn’t come to pass under either Clinton or Reagan. (Bartlett was an advisor to Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush.)

Tax Cuts on the Rich Don't Spur Economic Growth

09/12/2008

Michael Ettlinger and John Irons. Center for American Progress. September 12, 2008.

"Take a Walk on the Wild Side" debunks the supply-side myth -- that lower tax rates on the wealthy and corporations will necessarily lead to higher economic growth. There is little, if any, correlation between supply-side economics and the benefits that its proponents promise.

The Number of High-Income Taxpayers Increased Significantly During a Period With 10 Percent and 11 Percent Tax Rates on High-Income Earners

08/01/2008

The California Budget Project. August 2008.

“The Number of High-Income Taxpayers Increased Significantly During a Period With 10 Percent and 11 Percent Tax Rates on High-Income Earners” shows that the number of income tax filers over $200,000 skyrocketed by 33.4 percent during the period 1991-1995. During those years California issued a temporary 10 and 11 percent tax rates on high-income residents. Then between 2004 and 2006, when the state levied (and voters approved) an additional 1 percent surcharge on taxable personal income above $1 million, the number of millionaire taxpayers in California shot up by 37.8 percent.

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