There are two immutable facts of life, unavoidable and inevitable: death and taxes. As for the former, it is truly inescapable and comes for us all. The latter is as ineluctable as the former, and yet its effects can be mitigated by migration.
Regarding taxes, New York Governor Kathy Hochul believes she can induce wealthy former Empire State citizens to return. During Politico’s “New York Agenda: Albany Summit” Hochul said she needed individuals with “high net worth to support the generous social programs that we wanna have in our state.”
By “support” she means their money and by “we” she means liberals. Hochul isn’t looking for Socialist converts, just thick wallets.
The governor has an idea as to what to do next, “Maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded.”
Bringing former New Yorkers back would be a federal crime as no one, absent being kidnapped, would return to a state whose message to taxpayers is give until it hurts and keep giving until the Grim Reaper calls your number.
Death will get the body if not the soul, but New York Government will take everything else.
In all, there are twelve US states and the District of Columbia that think you’re worth as much or more dead than alive.
Necrophiliac money-grubbing states with estate taxes include Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and D.C.
The Tax foundation reports that these states, with varying levels of exemptions, don’t let the recently departed depart until they’ve been taxed one last time. These state taxes range from 1% to 35% based on the value of the estate.
As for state income tax rates, it will surprise no one that California is king. While dying may be a lesser cause for digging into a corpse’s pockets in the Golden State, the living receive no such courtesy.
According to the Tax Foundation, the top income tax rate in California is a hefty 13.3%. Close behind are some familiar names; Hawaii 11%, New York 10.9%, New Jersey 10.75%, Oregon 9.9%, Minnesota 9.85%, Massachusetts 9%, Vermont 8.75%, Wisconsin 7.65%, and Maine at 7.15%.
The California “billionaire’s” tax and Washington State’s “millionaire’s” tax are just more of the same under class warfare banners. These titles disguise nothing about the appetite of government, only suggesting it’s hunger can be satisfied by feasting on the uber wealthy. It can’t, they are insatiable.
The result of Hochul’s and her blue-state peer’s tax policies are easily understood, people want out.
Hochul knows why they’re leaving and has no way to get them back. Attempting to lure them back by promising to tax them at even greater rates is like trying to get Captain Hook into the water by pledging more alligators per gallon.
The result of usurious tax policies for both the living and the dead is perfectly predictable.
The Visual Capitalist reports that in 2025 the top four net migration out states per 100,000 of population are Massachusetts 37.9, New York 28.2, Maryland 27.4, and California 25.1.
The entirety of the Progressive Left’s tax agenda relies on people staying put. People, it appears, are putting their collective feet down in flight from high tax states.
If, as has often been said, Socialism will end when they run out of other people’s money, the migration of taxpayers fleeing tax heavy states is a literal step toward its demise.
The tax man cometh for us, the rich and the dead, but he must find us first.
Stephen Piccirillo © 2025
