Home Away From Home

Not surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal ran a front page feature yesterday reporting that workers are leaving the largest cities in droves and taking their jobs with them. When Congress passed the tax reform act that eliminated the deductibility of state and local taxes from federal returns, it set the stage for an exodus that has yet to be fully appreciated by the high-tax states that are about to lose massive revenues, not just from the “rich” but the regular folks. To the point, the WSJ article reported that there is an exodus by mid-cap consultant types from expensive urban centers toward cheaper cities such as Boise, Austin, and Portland where life is good and the cost of living is comparatively affordable. There is a wrinkle however. What made those cities attractive will soon find that growth is a two edge sword. Just ask the folks in LA who settled there in 1965.