The IRS has issued its latest data on the migration of tax returns. The bureaucracy tracks how taxpayers’ filing addresses change from one year to the next, and the figures are used by demographers to gauge where Americans are moving. (The number of exemptions declared “is closely correlated with the movement of individual persons.”)
Focusing solely on domestic migration, between 2015 and 2016, New Mexico lost a net 7,922 exemptions. It was the fifth year in a row that the Land of Enchantment experienced an overall decline.
People generally move to states nearby, and that was the case for New Mexicans. Arizona grabbed the most ex-residents, followed by Colorado and Texas. (Neighbor states are in red in chart below.) But Washington, Florida, and North Carolina were among the top ten lures, so proximity isn’t always preferred.
Between 2015 and 2016, New Mexico lost a net $188 million in adjusted gross income. That’s a significant chunk of tax revenue that had to be made up by … well, look in the mirror.
Fabulous weather, fascinating culture/history, and relatively low costs. Why isn’t New Mexico an economic-growth star? Maybe public policy in the state is deeply flawed?
8 of the 10 states NM lost people to were Right to Work and 4 of the ten were zero-income tax. Funny that rainy Washington is the leading non contiguous state for New Mexicans. I know several personally who have done that and both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos famously migrated from sunny New Mexico to rainy Seattle and then started some of the world’s most successful businesses.
We can guess why people are leaving, but has anyone done any substantive research on this? It should be fairly easy to survey people who have contracted with moving companies for out-of-state moves. Well-managed companies conduct exit interviews when employees resign, and it’s not unreasonable for a declining state to do likewise. If, that is, they really want to know.
I am going to leave as well I am taking my employees with me. Its a welfare state and I am not paying for it anymore, its un safe, certainly not business friendly, and the taxes are outrageous considering we get no proper paved roads, crappy schools, and horrible health care. Our elected officials think spending millions on the ART project only as example is going to bring and attract business. Are you kidding me its a bus lane, big deal!! Until the crime and home less on every corner are cleaned up nobody is coming. The whole state is still in the 1950s but i have figured out after starting my company 15 yrs ago as an outsider, that thats the way it is and thats the way they want it. Thats okay i am not gong to be a part of it anymore. So i am going to take my 40 million in revenues and high paying jobs, to florida where they want my business. Stick that in your burrito. You think the state cares, they could care less. They will find someone else to rob and then cheat the citizens of NM again. Every person in Santa fe legislation is related to one another, its the biggest scam going, and the joke is on you. ADIOS AMIGO!
If Grisham becomes governor, I think the rate will go up drastically. It has even occurred to my wife and I to leave. Grisham and the Progressives in Santa Fe could put the last nail in the coffin for NM.