High taxes lead businesses to flee the Wolverine State.
The Wall Street Journal brings us this report on how ever increasing taxes in Michigan have pushed businesses and people out of the state in search of less hostile economic environments. Those who understand the basics of economics and how free societies work will not be surprised at the results when a state government gobbles up more and more resources every year. The citizens of Michigan are voting with their feet. And the vote is not in favor of high government spending and taxes.
Politicians and academics who think that you can do this sort of thing indefinitely without adverse consequences are just plain wrong. For while it is true that you need to have some government services, there are real limits on how far they can go without killing the economic base that makes it all possible.
Comerica Inc. was founded in 1849 in Detroit and the Detroit Tigers play in Comerica Park, but this week the bank holding company announced it is moving its headquarters to Dallas--where, it said, the bigger growth opportunities are. Consider it one more vote of confidence in the state the national expansion forgot, and especially in Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's economic agenda.
Re-elected last year, Ms. Granholm recently rewarded the voters by announcing some $1 billion in new fees and tax increases. The plan would charge Michigan residents higher levies for almost every activity inside the state with a moving part. She would tax trucking, shopping, smoking, hunting, fishing, drinking beer and liquor, using a cell phone and, yes, even dying.
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