Rep. Randy Demmer (R, Hayfield) is trying to get his quips up to GOP standards as he positions himself to oppose U.S. 1st Congressional District Rep. Tim Walz in 2008. "GOP standards" means the sound bite doesn't have to be fact-based or even very plausible. It just has to fit on a bumper sticker. Or two, if you drive an SUV.
Demmer was quoted in the Rochester Post-Bulletin on the proposed 9 percent tax bracket that would apply to couples with incomes of more than $400,000 and $226,000 for single filers, after deductions.
"Yes, the people with high wages can afford it, ... and they can afford to move to Florida, too."
True, some people can just pull up roots and leave if their high income doesn't entail showing up for work. But most people in the send-my-check-to-the-new address category are likely to be retired and considering a move to warmer climes anyway. Growth & Justice has found studies of why high income people move and where — and as you would expect, they're more likely to choose places that are warm or have mountains. Some of those states have low taxes, but that doesn't appear to be the prime motivator. Rich people like to live in nice places is more like it.
How many couples at the height of their earning power — business owners, corporate executives, attorneys and other professionals — do you know who will leave their place of business because taxes went up less than four grand on their half-million before deductions? These moves are largely anecdotal or involve threats from businesses run out of pole barns 25 miles from the South Dakota border, where the quality of life drop from a move would not be so drastic.
What Demmer appears to be saying — threatening, really — is that people who are comfortable by most anyone's standards continue to be driven by money. That may be true of some of Demmer's supporters, but I suspect most well-to-do Minnesotans would find that characterization insulting.
