Before the Oregon special election where Multnomah, outvoting 24 other COUNTIES, passed Measures 66 & 67,  the Cascade Policy Institute commissioned a study (here) about the measures’ impact. Among the findings by Randal Pozdena and Eric Fruits were these:

• Between 47,000 and 55,000 jobs will be lost by 2018 from the increase in top marginal tax rates alone in the two measures.
• Net out-migration of tax filers will be approximately 80,000 greater than otherwise over a ten year period. These lost filers are likely to have significantly higher incomes than the average tax filer.
• The average biennial loss in Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from Measures 66 and 67 is approximately $1.1 billion dollars-50 percent higher than the $733 million first-biennial transfer of income from the private sector sought by the measures.

These findings were dismissed as scandalous falsehood by the unions funding the “yes” campaign and their friends in their bankrolled think tank. But the problem for them is Cascade is closer to being right than they are and, of course, real world experience bears this out.
A new study from Boston University (story here) shows that in New Jersey between 2004 and 2008, $70 billion in wealth LEFT THE STATE due to new, higher tax rates—and a tax on “millionaires.” Many of those “wealthy” people left to go to Florida, New York (?!) and Pennsylvania. And what becomes of New Jersey which had been the repository of some of the highest rollers in the land?

“The wealth is not being replaced,” said John Havens, who directed the study. “It’s above and beyond the general trend that is affecting the rest of the northeast.” 

So a disproportionate number of wealthy folks left New Jersey vis a vis the rest of the Northeast. What a shocker. Oh, wait… it’s not a surprise. It was totally predictable. Just like the predictability of the “outmigration” of wealth is being predicted for Oregon following the passage of –what did Chicago Mayor Richard Daley call them–oh, yes, “bad news,”

“What happened in Oregon is not good news for Oregon. They believe that anybody who makes $125,000 or more [annually] or businesses or anyone who makes $250,000 — they’re gonna start taxing them. They call them ‘rich people,’ ” the mayor said.

“I’ve always thought America stands for [rewarding success]. You finish high school. You work hard, go to college and you hope to succeed in life. I never knew it’s a class war—that those who succeed in life are the ones that have to bear all the burden. I never realized that. It will be a whole change in America that those who succeed and work hard [that] we’re gonna tax ‘em more than anyone else.”

But the New Jersey story is even more stark than our story here. Oregon has had a ‘bad for business’ reputation for a long period of time. But prior to the imposition of the new taxes in New Jersey, money–rich people with their jobs—had been pouring in. Things went south when greedy lawmakers in their zeal to grow government made a bigger grab for the wealth that didn’t belong to them,

The study – the first on interstate wealth migration in the country — noted the state actually saw an influx of $98 billion in the five years preceding 2004. The exodus of wealth, then, local experts and economists concluded, was a reaction to a series of changes in the state’s tax structure — including increases in the income, sales, property and “millionaire” taxes.

“This study makes it crystal clear that New Jersey’s tax policies are resulting in a significant decline in the state’s wealth,” said Dennis Bone, chairman of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and president of Verizon New Jersey.

Oregon democrats who, with their SEIU buddies, midwifed Measures 66 & 67, now consider taking the “kicker” and raising other taxes. In doing so they risk driving out even more of the wealth from Oregon–which has little to begin with.
We are number one in something however: Jobless claims