Daily Debunk: The 'conservative bugaboo' of 'tax flight'

St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial backs Fair Tax Amendment

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial on the Fair Tax Amendment quite simply debunks the notion of “tax flight” as a “mostly mythical … conservative bugaboo.” (Shutterstock)

By Ted Cox

With three weeks to go to the Nov. 3 election, you say you still need more information on the Fair Tax Amendment? You say, “Show me?”

Then allow us to turn today’s Daily Debunk over to the largest newspaper in Missouri, the “Show-Me State,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, just across the Mississippi River from the Metro East area.

The paper posted an editorial Monday that unironically and without snark or even a scintilla of superiority endorsed Illinois’s pursuit of a graduated income tax.

Oh, if only our state’s largest newspaper were as honorable, instead of endorsing a U.S. Senate candidate who backs the pursuit of “herd immunity” to combat the coronavirus and who basically says, in response to questions about climate change, “Show me.”

But that’s neither here nor there. Instead, we’re going to seize on an essential point in the editorial: what it calls the “conservative bugaboo” of “tax flight.”

Now, you’d think that if a newspaper in a neighboring metropolis had an ounce of self-interest, it would back a regressive, inefficient tax system across the state line as a way of encouraging those unfortunate neighbors to move on over. Come to Missouri, which already has a progressive income tax, and pay your taxes here instead of throwing them down a pension drain in Illinois.

That’s not the case with the Post-Dispatch. Its editorial gets right to the point in stating: “Studies have shown the conservative bugaboo of ‘tax flight’ is mostly mythical.”

We’ve been mentioning those same studies. State Sen. Bill Brady claimed a graduated income tax would lead to an “exodus of middle-class families.” The Better Government Association rated that “false,” pointing to its own study finding that, when Illinois raised taxes a decade ago, the rich prospered and it was those making less than $50,000, bearing the burden of the regressive tax system, who felt compelled to move.

The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability also debunked the notion that taxes were fueling the “Illinois exodus.” When conservative radio pundit Dan Proft charged in a debate late last year on the Fair Tax that it would drive the rich and working families to flee out of state, the center’s own Executive Director Ralph Martire replied that, while Illinois was suffering from a net migration, with more people leaving than moving in, Wisconsin and Iowa both actually lose a higher percentage of their populations to Illinois than vice versa, and specifically to Chicago, Cook County, and the collar counties — where taxes are highest in the state. He countered that tax policy has little if any effect on where people choose to live.

The Post-Dispatch editorial agreed, concluding: “While it’s true Illinois has been losing population, that’s likely tied to issues like the quality of schools, infrastructure, and state services — areas that suffer when the state budget is consistently underfunded. The Fair Tax Amendment would alleviate that underfunding while doing away with the inequity of taxing working people like they’re millionaires.”

We couldn’t have stated it better ourselves. Trust the neighbors, sometimes, to point out the flaws you’ve overlooked in your own home.