A recent report from the American Legislative Exchange Council is a grim reminder of the human and financial costs of bad government. (Read the World Net Daily article here and the report here.)
The report, called "Rich States Poor States," estimates that $7 billion of California's $14 billion deficit in 2003 was the direct result of successful Californians moving out of state in the early 2000s. More than 5,000 of the state's 25,000 millionaires left California to avoid the high taxes and excessive regulations imposed by the special interests in Sacramento.
However, it's not just millionaires leaving California. The report cites data from moving companies that shows California had the second-highest out-flow of domestic population of any state in 2005. It's no wonder that California's budget deficit has continued to grow (the latest estimate is $16 billion) as more and more Californians "vote with their feet" and take with them their earning power, talent and entrepreneurial spirit.
California will not only be denied their future income tax revenue -- it will be denied the future jobs and new businesses created by the human capital that has fled the state. Once people leave a state it is hard to get them to come back. The special interests' high taxes and burdensome regulations have created an albatross that will hang around the neck of Californians in perpetuity.