After enduring state and local COVID policies that wreaked havoc on the economy, followed by historic inflation that delivered a resounding election victory to Donald Trump, you would think that state and local politicians would learn some economic lessons.
Apparently not. Politicians from blue and red states seem to be getting their lessons from very different schools.
If blue states don’t begin to understand how economics work, they are going to continue to see their power centers dwindle.
In red states, politicians want to enable economic freedom. Property taxes, which impose a heavy, lifelong burden on real estate owners, have been a subject of several politicians looking to improve the opportunity to participate in the American dream of home ownership. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is looking at a state constitutional amendment to potentially eradicate property taxes in the state.
Reviving the American dream
Cliff Maloney, CEO of the strategic grassroots organization Citizens Alliance, explained to Blaze News the significance of this lesson:
When you think about it, you never truly own your home. If you miss just a few tax payments, they’ll seize your property that you saved for and worked so hard to make a home. That’s not freedom — that’s essentially just rent to the state. Our internal data shows that out of the 510,000 Americans we’ve talked to, more than 82% said property taxes are a major concern. They’re infuriated that while they’re being forced to cut their own budgets to survive in today’s economy, local governments refuse to do the same.
While not going quite as far as DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) is also trying to deliver some tax relief to property owners, with others in the state working to figure out how to get rid of property taxes in the long term.
Maloney also mentioned that Citizens Alliance’s door-knocking and advocacy efforts in New Hampshire “led to abolishing 14 taxes and fees, which has produced a dramatic influx of businesses moving to the state from other nearby states that have a higher tax burden.”
All of this stems from smart economic lessons. Lessons that very blue states have failed to learn.
Democrats haven’t learned anything
After witnessing the inflationary effects of COVID-era stimulus checks — a result that was highly unpopular politically — one might assume politicians would steer clear of repeating the same mistake.
That’s not the case in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is laughably handing out “inflation refund” checks, a move even other Democrats are calling a political gimmick — not to mention a bad economic move.
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In Virginia, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, now running for governor, has pledged to raise the minimum wage to $15, another form of market intervention that creates barriers to employment and increases costs.
In Minneapolis, city leaders are considering adding a 2% fee to hotel rooms in an effort to boost tourism — because, apparently, making hotels more expensive is always a good way to get more people to your city.
The people have spoken
Given the importance of the economy to Americans, it’s no surprise that Americans are moving from blue states to red ones. Maloney shared:
We’ve had the unique opportunity to talk to a lot of new residents during our door-knocking campaigns, and in doing so, our data uncovered that 69% of new residents moved for financial reasons. In 41% of these cases, this was because they were no longer able to afford the skyrocketing cost of living in blue states, while 13% were because of new, better-paying job opportunities.
If blue states don’t begin to understand how economics work, they will continue to see their power centers dwindle. Math doesn’t lie. People are taking their capital and spending power to the states where the math works.
The post Red states get it: Economic freedom beats blue-state gimmicks appeared first on TheBlaze.
