[x3iv130f]

Sure, we can just keep on increasing taxes until all the top earners leave for cheaper areas.

I prefer low taxes.

What's there to lose by building towns at a human scale? Personally, I can live without Fauxrari speeding past my door at 2 am.

[pmoriarty]

Tax Flight Is a Myth: Higher State Taxes Bring More Revenue, Not More Migration:

https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/tax-fligh...

[refurb]

That’s a high quality study!

“It found that while the net out-migration rate of this income group accelerated after the tax increase went into effect, so did the net out-migration rate of filers with incomes between $200,000 and $500,000, and by virtually the same amount.”

That’s their argument high taxes don’t drive people elsewhere?

[forum_ghost]

Luckily Texas is 32nd in tax burden, and has zero state income tax.

[CaptainZapp]

Then again, Texans may be in deep shit if the weather turns too cold or too hot and the power grid conked yet again.

Believe it or not, but a well maintained infrastructure has a lot to do with adequate taxation and regulation.

[refurb]

Indeed, unlike say, California whose high taxes have helped create a robust electrical infrastructure which hasn’t randomly started fires destroying entire towns (and killing dozens) and doesn’t have rolling blackouts each summer.

Is that what you mean?

[bin_bash]

I just bought a generator with some of the tens of thousands I’m saving by not paying CA tax anymore

[User23]

Texas has other even more terrifying fragilities that I'm not going to get specific on, because they're that scary and I don't want to give crazy people ideas.

[forum_ghost]

ERCOT’s CEO was fired over the incident im sure you are referring to. fired within weeks.

Who’s getting fired over California’s blackouts? Let me guess, it’s all just climate change?

[bliteben]

Texas property taxes are insanely high, I would would consider moving to be closer to family, but I am pretty averse to the annual taxes at the properties that would appeal to me there (10k - 20k annual taxes).

[john567]

No it's not. I'm currently contemplating leaving my country of residence because absurd tax rates. I'm a productive member of society and high earner but I'm starting to loose faith in my institutions. If you keep on taxing, and fail your responsibilities, people get fed up and leave, that's what they do. Only the people that don't have the means to leave stay creating a particular nasty downward spiral of people without jobs and home ownership dependent on government subsidies.

[nicoburns]

> If you keep on taxing, and fail your responsibilities, people get fed up and leave,

Well sure. But that's probably true of "fail your responsibilities" regardless of tax rate. Nobody wants to live in a state without a well-functioning government.

[ForHackernews]

> No it's not. I'm currently contemplating leaving my country

Cool, your N=1 anecdote completely invalidates all the statistical research in that area.

[Aeolun]

Since the article is about state taxes, and the OP is talking about national taxes, I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

[john567]

N=1 isn't an argument either. I'm simply saying what a lot of people in my situation also thinks. It's just sensible that you don't stay because you like paying taxes. You stay where you are because of family and friends. To say that it doesn't influence people decision is deceiving.

> all the statistical research in that area.

Calling BS on that right there

[throwaway2037]

Where is your country of residence? What is your effective tax rate? (Please don't tell me about your top marginal rate -- that is nonsense unless you have a enormous taxable income.) What do you think is the "correct" tax rate for your income level?

[john567]

Sweden, the way I think we should look at it is the discrepancy between what my employer is paying me and what I receive in my bank account.

That's 51.8% of what I make. That is the government is taking just slightly more than half of everything I earn.

In order to answer what I think is reasonable to pay in tax, we need to look at what the Swedish government spends it's money on. Core infrastructure, health care, school, police etc. This is about 30% of the current government spending. That is frightening to me. I'd be happy to pay less in tax, frankly I want to pay as little as possible but Sweden has this huge government apparatus and it's growing by the day with all kinds of more or less non-essential government arms. I could go into details but I won't right now. I just don't want to finance a lot of this with my money.

It won't be possible any time soon but I'd love to see my tax rate cut in half and given the spending of our governments it should be possible but only if we make it a priority.

[throwaway2037]

Are you a Swedish national or a high income foreigner? If #2, I strongly encourage you to stop complaining and leave soon. Sweden is a highly advanced democracy. This tax rate has been confirmed by numerous, fairly elected governments. The result of this policy is very low income equality and very strong social safety net.

I can assure you that an effective tax rate of 25% would result in much higher income inequality, and much weaker social safety net. Is this the society that you want?

[john567]

It's sounds like you'd be interested to live in my country (born and raised here, I'm almost 40 now and have two kids, happily married etc) but I don't think you know all too much about Sweden. And if you really want to know, ask away, I will answer as truthfully as I can.

The tax rate hasn't always been this high. It's basically the result of government overreach over the past 100 years. I don't think you need to take more than 25% to provide essential services but I also expect people to pay more for the services that they use. I want people to allocate capital more so that the government.

Right now, Sweden has a serious immigration problem. 2 million new people over that past 20 years, a lot of them from radically different cultures. Our social welfare is being used to support these people and they aren't able to contribute back. This is a net drain on our economy and I'm not super happy about that. The studies we have show that these people don't integrate and don't generate tax revenue. And I'm not paying these taxes for their benefit, I'm paying these taxes to build a better future for my kids.

For the longest time, the lie that was being told was that it be a huge asset and opportunity for Sweden and it could have turned out this way, Sweden has had successful immigration in the past but it didn't turn out this way this time.

You talk about progressive taxation and income inequality but people forget that you need a healthy economy as well. You can't just tax everybody and expect equality.

Despite everything you think you may know about Sweden, we have the most gun violence and the most rape in Europe. The Swedish police can't be bothered with solving all the rape because of all the killings.

We have an energy crisis because environmentalists wants to shut down our nuclear reactors (50% of our energy production) and replace it with wind whit cannot work short term or during winter.

I will stop here. At some point Sweden did deserve it's reputation but this country is living on old merits. There's so much crap going on right now that I will take my chances. At least in a free and open society I'd be able to make a bigger impact myself.

[forum_ghost]

>I prefer low taxes.

Texas is 32rd in terms of tax burden, you will prefer it.

>Personally, I can live without Fauxrari speeding past my door at 2 am.

That’s an enforcement problem. If you think this doesn’t happen in dense cities, with way more sports carts and way more bars, idk what to tell you.

I’ve literally moved to suburbia to escape the city noise. In my case it was fire engines passing by literally every 10 minutes. That’s normal in a dense “human-scale” city centre, but very rare in the suburbs.

[jacobolus]

> moved to suburbia to escape the city noise

City noise is almost all from automobiles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8