5 Reasons the Top Tax Rate Should Be 80 Percent

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4. NJ

People are leaving NJ because of the taxes. The biggest class of people leaving the state is people who are retiring. It is almost to the point where nobody retires in NJ. If you are rich and retire you leave NJ to avoid the taxes just because you can. If you are middle class and retire you leave NJ to avoid taxes so that you can afford a decent retirement. If you are poor you get the hell out of NJ just to be able to afford to live. The average NJ property tax bill is no > 8K. Most people can't afford that. It really has become a state where you either do very well or you struggle just to get by.

Police, Fireman and teachers are a huge class of workers who retire out of NJ. They take their very generous NJ pension and retire to a cheaper state. I don't blame them, but it isn't good for the state of NJ. The pension problem that the state is facing is absolutely a huge issue. This will be a big issue in the next election and it will be interesting to see if anybody can come up with a plan that may actually fix the issue and fix it with a good solid long-term fix.

So I don't think Christie is wrong when he says that the wealthy are leaving the state. It's everybody that can. The only thing keeping the state population from shrinking is the influx of immigrants. So over the next 10-15 years it will be interesting to see what happens in NJ. It isn't going to be pretty. I'd leave in a minute if I could, but I have child support to pay. I don't have the option to move to a cheaper state. Personally I could live in a lower income state, but I would still have to pay child support at the NJ rate, so it just wouldn't work.