Mobility

[jonathankaplan]

I ask that only those who have lived in North America answer this poll, and then, only for the period of residence on that continent. Please?....smile....

Comments

[spidurman]

Wow...great poll.

My ten second background, since I suspect I'm slightly atypical for your readership - I'm mid20s live in the same county I've lived in all my life. Went away for college and came back.

My more nuanced view on the taxation questions - if I'm getting something I want for the extra money I'm paying, I can deal with it. If I'm getting a bridge to Alaska, I'm less happy about it.

Oh, I live in one of (if not the) highest tax states already, so I'm not sure how much more is left to be grabbed at.

[sabyl]

The reality is most of my moves, and I've moved a lot, have happened because of roommate situations. Several times the house we were living in was being sold by the owner so roommates dissolved, then there are the crazy/inconsiderate roommates, or relationship related moves. When I have moved for non-roommate reasons and have made a significant change in locale (Tx to Oregon, Portland to Seattle, Seattle to bay area) there have been varying factors from economic/job related to weather. Taxes has rarely factored into my decision, with the exception of turning down a job offer in NYC, but even there it wasn't the only factor

[cluebyfour]

I assume that by "change residence" you mean "change the dwelling where I physically reside", and not the just the city. By that metric I've moved at least 18 times, and that still doesn't count the times I returned home from college, or when I worked at a summer camp in Pennsylvania for three months.

The smoking question is interesting, because I am a smoker, and Colorado imposed a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants this past summer. It hasn't made me consider leaving--I'm sort of resigned to the collectivists getting their way on such issues--but it has definitely changed my social outing habits (I go to bars far less frequently than before, which admittedly wasn't much).

[rickthefightguy]

Ah, I answered as 'region of residence changed' - moving a half mile to a new off-campus apartment or moving from an apartment in Evanston to one in Edgewater, or Edgewater to Albany Park did not count in my counting. I moved from RI to MA (for school), to PA (for work for one season), to a tall ship (for work for one season), to RI (for work, for a few years) to MA (for work, for 2 years) to Chicago (for work and a girl...I still have and am interested in the work!).

[libertarianhawk]

On the Federal taxes question, I was mostly driven to say "never" by the "where to?" issue. Any event that drives US taxes up that much probably affects the rest of the world as well, and we're a low-tax country. So the relative value would likely stay the same. And personal freedom would also be tangled up in that, so I'd have a hard time thinking there be a better place overall.

And having written that, the real factor is that I'd rather stay and fight than be chased out of the country by whoever's doing that.

There is a level of confiscatory taxation...

[ooda_loop]

There is a level of confiscatory taxation at which point tax evasion becomes a moral decision. A 100% tax rate generates no revenue because it drives the entire economy underground.