David Sirota: The Tax Migration Myth
from truthdig:
The Tax Migration Myth
Posted on Oct 24, 2013
By David Sirota
It is not news that New Yorks political and media elites worship the extremely rich. You can see this when in a tough economy the New York Times publishes a Wealth section fronted by a how-to piece on buying Irish castles. You can see it when you hear the citys billionaire mayor insisting that critics of wealth inequality should be quiet because they interfere with his dream to get all the Russian billionaires to move here. And you can see it when you behold Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) slamming a modest initiative to slightly increase taxes on the Big Apples millionaires.
Again, none of this unto itself is all that newsy because it isnt all that new. New Yorks let them eat cake culture has been around for a long time in a city where almost half of all residents live below or near the poverty line. However, what is news is the extent to which this wealth-obsessed environment helps strengthen the mythologies that distort economic reality.
Cuomos attack, in particular, perfectly illustrates this trend. Fresh off raising millions from wealthy donors for his political front group, the governor slammed Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasios tax hike proposal, claiming it will drive Cuomos beloved millionaires out of the state.
What they fear is that theyre in a place where the taxes will continually go up and there will be a ceiling and theyll say, Im going to Florida, Cuomo said of the rich. I believe that. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_tax_migration_myth_20131024?ln