(CNSNews.com) -- New York State accounted for the biggest migration exodus of any state in the nation between 2000 and 2010, with 3.4 million residents leaving over that period, according to the Tax Foundation.Over that decade the state gained 2.1 million, so net migration amounted to 1.3 million, representing a loss of $45.6 billion in income.
Where are they escaping to? The Tax Foundation found that more than 600,000 New York residents moved to Florida over the decade -- opting perhaps for the Sunshine State's more lenient tax system -- taking nearly $20 billion in adjusted growth income with them.
Over that same time period, 208,794 Pennsylvanians moved to Florida, taking $8 billion in income.
"Many of these New York and Pennsylvania residents no doubt moved to Florida for the warm weather," says the foundation, a nonpartisan research group. "[B]ut many more may have moved there because the state does not have an individual income tax, an estate tax, nor an inheritance tax."
I continue to find it stunning that those remaining in Noo Yawk and Pencilneckvania continue voting for Dem governors and sending Dem senators and congressmen to Washington. On the other hand, I should be able to understand, even though I don't. I live in Merlin, where Baltimore, Prince Georges, and Montgomery counties keep electing dynasts, party hacks, and crooks, dragging the more conservative rest of the state with them into the blue column.