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I find some of the southern states seem to be very high tax states. Yet there is little mention of it and its always considered the Northeast states are the high tax ones. Look at NC for one, that state has alot of varied taxes.
It doesn't surprise me that much. There are people in the South who will use large lots of land as a tax write off. You actually get tax benefits for letting your field lay fallow, as in, not growing any crops on it. Kind of disturbing when you think about it. The middle class still has to pay property taxes, not to mention this might explain part of why fresh fruits and vegetables are not that cheap.
It would be fitting for the largest number of non-paying tax filers in the USA. Some people have land to use as tax write offs.
There is a flip side to this as well. The South also has some of the highest poverty rates in the USA. My guess is that there are alot of people who don't make much money and if you make under a certain amount of money, you don't pay taxes.
It doesn't surprise me that much. There are people in the South who will use large lots of land as a tax write off. You actually get tax benefits for letting your field lay fallow, as in, not growing any crops on it. Kind of disturbing when you think about it. The middle class still has to pay property taxes, not to mention this might explain part of why fresh fruits and vegetables are not that cheap.
It would be fitting for the largest number of non-paying tax filers in the USA. Some people have land to use as tax write offs.
There is a flip side to this as well. The South also has some of the highest poverty rates in the USA. My guess is that there are alot of people who don't make much money and if you make under a certain amount of money, you don't pay taxes.
Great points, as the article I posted did mention that many of those states have some of the highest poverty rates/percentages for states in the US.
It almost sounds similar to what I've heard about some homes in Northern states where they don't spruce it up, as it would make assessments go up on homes.
Great points, as the article I posted did mention that many of those states have some of the highest poverty rates/percentages for states in the US.
It almost sounds similar to what I've heard about some homes in Northern states where they don't spruce it up, as it would make assessments go up on homes.
That also happens in the South. I suspect it is being done for the same reason. In the South, there seems to be a strong undercurrent of "tax hatred". Where I used to live, I could find some places where longtime residents let their property go bad. I suspect it was to keep property taxes relatively low. It could be some other factors, such as people getting older and not being able to take care of the property, upkeep being too expensive, or for some, carelessness.
Taxes in the South are much cheaper than they are up north. We do make heavy use of varied taxes, but we also have cheaper property taxes, lower business taxes (this is how we attract business investment from up north), but we make up for it in other fees for services and other taxes and providing fewer services.
The reason why we have fewer --income-- tax payers (never forget there are other payroll taxes these people do pay) is we have higher poverty rates. This occurs from mostly from people not having much money and less from tax benefit tricks.
And as much as people don't want to talk about the main (but not only) reason the south has a higher poverty rate is the sheer amount of black people left behind from an era of slavery. The black middle class is starting to take hold in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, etc. However, many throughout the southern states live in rural areas and are relatively poor and haven't been educated very well and have limited jobs options. Now this is changing, but it is very slow.
Now there is one benefit. The cost of living in the rural south of very low. There is less demand for land/houses, so its easier to buy property, easier to buy property for rent (and keep lower rents).
There are also alot of rural public housing projects. They are little problematic in how they were built. They were built near larger towns and not in their neighboring counties. The end effect is rather than lightly spreading out the poorest people amongst communities of mixed income and placed poorer kids in the same schools as wealthier kids it kept them separated, which as research shows has a negative effect on the education of poor people.
(*Side Note about Florida: That link above correctly found that Florida doesn't have as high of a poverty rate as the rest of the south. However, they do have plenty of retirees. There are also alot of entertainment based jobs for high schoolers/college students that don't pay much, but is highly seasonal. This means alot of people still file taxes on interest of retirement income and alot of people who are in school working just on a seasonal basis. Both of these are groups who are more likely to be non-income tax paying filers. And keep in mind the differences from north to south are only about 4-8%, so when I make these arguments... it is enough to swing it 4-8%. There are still many people in Florida [and in the south] who are of avg age/working middle class situation.)
Americans are fleeing the Northeast and the Midwest for either the South and the West due to two main reasons: lower cost of living and booming job market in the Sun Belt states.
It doesn't bother me as long people don't start fleeing to West Virginia. Marylanders fleeing over here is bad enough!
Yes, the United States would be a poor country without blue states. Most ppl "fleeing" high cost states are mostly low-income people who pay no taxes anyway so nobody cares.
exactly!
southern states have a much higher rate of poverty and lack of higher educated people (correlation?). serious businesses arent leaving northeast & midwest.
^ great article. i also saw another where they compared money paid to the federal government vs money received from the federal government and guess what... top 20 or so states were ALL IN THE SOUTH.
that entire portion of this country is completely subsidized by the government.
how can the northeast boom when you only get 50 cents back for every dollar that you pay in?
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is against the tos
^ check that out. southern states are at the bottom of every single stat...
exactly!
^ great article. i also saw another where they compared money paid to the federal government vs money received from the federal government and guess what... top 20 or so states were ALL IN THE SOUTH.
that entire portion of this country is completely subsidized by the government.
how can the northeast boom when you only get 50 cents back for every dollar that you pay in?
Yes, this little fact has been brought up numerous times in this ploddingly long thread (and conveniently ignored).
And the red states all profess to hate government. They even hint at secession! Would they then demand foreign aid?
As was noted previously, the census only shows population gain/loss - nothing more. The reasons are either conjecture or self-serving propaganda.
Yes, this little fact has been brought up numerous times in this ploddingly long thread (and conveniently ignored).
And the red states all profess to hate government. They even hint at secession! Would they then demand foreign aid?
...and the "50 cents on the dollar" statistics continue to be abused.
Perfect example is if you put a nuclear waste repository in a low population state like New Mexico that represents a lot of federal money into the state but there is a non-monetary benefit for all of the other states. (Also indian reservations which are notoriously impoverished and thus pay virtually no taxes but receive federal aid.)
A lot of the aid is also farm related. It's funny to see millions of dollars in farm subsidies credited to some farm in Iowa....but the check is mailed to the owners residence in Manhattan.
Just cautioning that the old "tax income\outflow" by state argument is as old as the hills around here and is vastly more complicated than simple conclusions allow.
Americans are fleeing the Northeast and the Midwest for either the South and the West due to two main reasons: lower cost of living and booming job market in the Sun Belt states.
It doesn't bother me as long people don't start fleeing to West Virginia. Marylanders fleeing over here is bad enough!
This depends on the area of the Northeast or Midwest you are living in though. My area is just as affordable as many, if not most areas in the South. So, the Northeast being expensive is more of a Bos-Wash corridor thing.
Unemployment is also lower in many metros in those region in comparison to the South or West too.
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