Happy National New Hampshire Day to those who celebrate.
During last month’s trip to Boston, I talked to a private banker who handles mostly $20-400 million accounts. He says that the relatively new Maskachusetts “millionaire’s tax” in which the progressive state finally has a progressive income tax rate (9% for income over $1 million) has provided quite a few of his clients with the final push that they needed to pack up and get out. “It’s happening slowly,” he said, “but it is definitely happening. It takes people a few years to get a move organized.” New Hampshire recently abolished its personal income tax (2025 is the first tax-free year; previously, the state was tax-free only for W-2 earnings) and it lacks an estate tax so I expected NH to be a popular destination (MA estate tax is 16%). It should, after all, be easier to move 50 miles than to move 1,000+ miles. “Florida is still the most popular destination,” the banker replied. “My California clients are moving to Texas, but from the Northeast they’re still going to Florida.”
What else did I see in downtown Boston before and after this conversation? Boston leadership in health care and pharma is evident from all the ads for home delivery of healing marijuana:
The folks who say that they’re passionate about social justice are content to simply stroll by any number of people who are reduced to sleeping on the sidewalk:
What’s across the street from this guy? A law school that says it has a “commitment” to social justice:
The advancement of diversity and social justice is a cause that many attorneys may address in their careers. Suffolk University Law School’s commitment to these important objectives reflects itself in the wide range of courses that address issues of diversity, inclusion, and social justice. While many courses at the Law School reflect these objectives, the courses gathered here are notable in that they are addressed in a particular way to this cause and will be of interest to students who wish to focus their careers on the advancement of diversity, inclusion, and social justice.
Instead of helping their homeless neighbors, however, the law school righteous decided to build themselves a fancy crib:
Michael Dukakis inaugurated a grand Massachusetts tradition in 1988 (US News):
(Unlike Tim Walz, however, Dukakis did not claim to have suffered PTSD after his tank ride.)
The locals were carrying on this tradition on the Boston Common, August 21, 2025:
Also, if you want to see where you non-Medicaid/Medicare tax dollars went to die…
A Downtown Pony:
WA created the most stupid tax of all – on long term capital gains. (They also unconstitutionally introduced small income tax).
My multi-millionaire friend just moved to Florida.
Thanks to you and him now it’s harder for me to move, real estate is going up!
SK: Florida is still quite affordable if you don’t insist on crowding in with all of the other rich-ish people on the coasts (actually particular spots on the coasts). Some sociologist needs to study why rich people all pile into the same locations and thus end up making themselves poor!
Overall Florida does fairly well, tax burden-wise, at 45th, New Hampshire at 48, according to this data.
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/04/01/how-the-50-states-rank-by-tax-burden-updated-for-2025/158094/
I wouldn’t even mind paying somewhat higher taxes, if the money was spent fixing roads and other infrastructure. I know, I know–it always ends up in the pockets of immigrants, ne’er-do-wells, and pork-barrel-projects-for-votes. Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country–also the fewest miles of the worst roads in the country.
I liked living in Wyoming–low taxes and nice people–the problem is it is like a desert wilderness for housing, food, jobs, shopping, etc.–you kind of get used to the 50 MPH winds and -50 F temperatures in the winter, just like the Florida humidity. Finding anywhere decent to live these days is a very over constrained problem.
@philg: “Some sociologist needs to study why rich people all pile into the same locations”
It’s simple – to get away from…ahhh…errr…ummm…never mind.
And, what’s up with that guy’s gigantic swollen lower legs (and his tiny feet) in the last picture?
@DP > swollen lower legs
AI fake?
Re: sleeping on the sidewalk
Looks like someone stole his/her/xher “Spare Change/Weed Gummies” cup. I hope you at least checked whether or not he was breathing. I made fun of a homeless guy when I was a boy, and my dad said, “You never know, he could be Jesus, or it could be you in 50 years.” Dad was prescient, apparently–his prediction was close.
Believe it or not, we would sometimes saw people like this in Laramie, WY. More of a “personal social welfare” program there–someone might buy them a blanket at Wal*Mart, some chicken nuggets, or bottled water. There was even a time people would share their shed or barn–those days are gone, back when a hoe was a hoe.