The Math Politicians Hope You Never Do Let’s strip this down to something brutally simple: incentives. A top-tier taxpayer in New York isn’t just paying “a bit more.” Stack federal, state, city, and hidden taxes together, and you’re staring at marginal rates pushing 60%. That means for every additional dollar earned, the government claims the majority share. Now flip the scenario. Move to a no-income-tax state—Texas, Florida, Tennessee—and suddenly that same individual keeps closer to 57% of each additional dollar instead of 40%. That’s not a marginal improvement. That’s a massive, structural pay raise—on the order of 30–40%. And here’s the part that should make policymakers uncomfortable: This isn’t a loophole. It’s legal, rational, and increasingly common behavior. The Austrian…
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