July 28, 2011

Progressives and Their Taxes Kill Cities

By Chuck Rogér
High taxes are bad for cities.  Low taxes encourage growth.  In fact, between 1980 and 2007, compared to the ten most-taxed metropolitan areas, America's ten least-taxed metropolitan areas experienced three times faster population growth, 2.7 times faster employment growth, and twice as great an increase in personal income.  In the latest Cato Journal, economist Dean Stansel observes: If high-tax, low-growth metro areas like Detroit, Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Syracuse want to be more like high-growth areas such as Dallas, Tampa, San Antonio, and Austin, they should lower their onerous burden of taxation and bring spending under control. Yet does any objective observer of today's ruling-class elitists think that the progressive mayors of humdrum cities would even consider embracing the fiscally conservative strategies of America's hands-down winners?  Past or present tax-and-spend governors of Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York are not likely to abandon a failed...(Read Full Article)