August 2010

More wealthy migrate south to avoid tax hikes

From InvestmentNews.com.

Specter of higher federal and state burdens hastens exodus from North

For years, wealthy retirees from high-tax states in the Northeast and Midwest have been streaming to sunny, low-tax Florida. That stream is now turning into a flood.

“We haven't had a situation like this in quite a few years,” said Greg Rosica, a tax partner at Ernst & Young LLP.

“We have this impending tax increase, and people are trying to looking for ways to hide from that, but they're not seeing many from the federal perspective. One of the ways they're looking to do it is changing their state income tax rate,” Mr. Rosica said.

“This move to no-tax states is absolutely big business,” said Thomas Handler, a partner at the law firm Handler Thayer LLP. “People are doing it all day long, and it's ramping up.”

In addition to Florida, the states that don't tax income are Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Tennessee tax only dividend and interest income.

Learn more.