As published at FoxNews on 1/30/13
By Wayne Allyn Root
Mr. Obama, you have a big problem. You may own the media, so you can control the Benghazi disaster. But you have no control over this one. A tax rebellion has started.
Phil Mickelson is one of the most famous athletes in the world. He is worth in the vicinity of $100 million. Last year he made almost $50 million. Yet he doesn’t want to pay California’s high taxes. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/osvideo-mickelson-says-he-may-move-away-from-california-because-of-taxes-20130122,0,6577285.story
Tiger Woods is far more famous and worth far more- over $1 billion, yet he agrees with Mickelson and admits that he left California in 1996 for the exact same reason- high taxes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2013/01/23/tiger-woods-moved-too-says-mickelson-was-right-about-taxes/
In the same week, famed boxing promoter Bob Arum announced that superstar boxing legend Manny Pacquiao’s next fight will not be in held in America. The man who makes tens of millions per fight refuses to pay Obama’s higher U.S. income taxes. He is considering Mexico City, Asia, or Dubai for his next fight. Can you imagine? Smart businessmen would rather choose Mexico City over America because of Obama’s taxes. http://www.boxingnews24.com/2013/01/arum-pacquiao-doesnt-want-to-fight-in-u-s-because-the-taxes-are-too-high/
Then Tina Turner went public. She is renouncing her U.S. citizenship to become a Swiss citizen- which just happens to have lower taxes than Obama’s America.
But these are just the rich celebrities courageous enough to go public. This is merely the tip of the iceberg. The rich are fleeing in droves. The Obama tax and spend Ponzi scheme is imploding.
What changed? The technology revolution has made it possible to do business from places where the taxes are lower (or non existent) and where the government treats us better. Obama had better learn this lesson fast, because this tax rebellion is spreading to millions of Americans with far smaller incomes or assets than Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, or Manny Pacquaio.
The signs are everywhere that a tax rebellion has begun. The latest U.S. Census showed us that the states with low taxes enjoyed the fastest population growth- states like Nevada, Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Not surprisingly, the states losing the most population are all high tax states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and of course Obama’s Illinois.
These states that Americans are running from are all governed just like Obama wants to govern the entire country. Soon these same Americans running away from California, New York and Illinois will instead be running away from America.
Ask the co-founder of Facebook, who recently renounced his citizenship and left for Singapore (where the capital gains taxes are zero).
Ask big-time Democratic contributor Denise Rich, who recently renounced her citizenship to leave for Austria.
The trickle is turning into a torrent. Record numbers of wealthy Americans are giving up their citizenship- eight times more than before Obama became President.
Of course we already know that only one year after the UK imposed a “Millionaires Tax” two thirds of the millionaires in England disappeared off the tax rolls.
High taxes have worked well in England…they are about to endure an unheard of in history triple dip recession…the 3rd recession in 5 years. Folks that’s called a Great Depression.
We already know that millionaires are escaping France at a record pace because of high tax rates imposed by the new Obama-clone Socialist President of France. Even leftist actors like Gerard Depardieu have been forced to abandon the country they love. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/gerard-depardieu-quits-france-because-high-taxes-173222852.html
The famous actor isn’t alone. Requests by citizens to leave France are up by 500%.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/12/18/can-the-last-taxpayer-leaving-france-please-turn-out-the-lights/
But then came the coup de grace. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has just announced he is leaving France because of taxes.
High taxes are even chasing away the Presidents of their own countries!
High taxes work great in France. Their Labor Minister announced just this week that France is “totally bankrupt.” His words.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-28/labor-minister-says-france-totally-bankrupt
I understand all of this only too well. I’ve got my own “escape from taxes” story. I arrived in sunny Southern California in 1989. I fell in love. I thought I would never leave. I woke up every morning to walk on the beach, and to watch dolphins swim from my deck. I married a former Miss Oklahoma. I was in heaven.
Unfortunately, during the next decade California grew more and more desperate. Taxes were raised again and again. There were so many rules, regulations, and lawsuits, it became impossible to run a business in California. So I escaped to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas is “America’s Monte Carlo.” It’s a place with no state income tax, business income tax, capital gains tax, or inheritance tax…and the 16th lowest property taxes in America. A place where the state constitution bans income taxes, limits the time politicians can meet, and welcomes guns in the hands of law abiding citizens. I call it heaven. As long as the taxes stay at zero, I’ll never leave.
But I’m not alone. During the past decade over 1.3 million residents escaped California. When I add up the income taxes, property taxes, business taxes, and the payroll and income taxes for the 100 employees I took with me…chasing me away probably cost California about $2,000,000 in lost revenues. Multiply that times thousands of other high income, high net worth, business owners among the 1.3 million who have escaped…and that accounts for why California is always broke, insolvent, and desperate.
You know what they say about pigs- they get slaughtered. California is certainly a pig. Just like the PIIGS in Europe- Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain all chased away their richest citizens and business owners. Now they have nothing left. Their tax base is destroyed. Add France and the UK to the list. There all going down.
If we let big government progressives have their way, California’s sad story and Europe’s tragic story will also be America’s sad story. Obama is killing the American Dream. Phil Mickelson was only vocalizing what millions of business owners in America are thinking right now.
Governments lie when they say taxes are good, or “fair” or the price you must pay for a “civilized society.” Big government doesn’t lead to a better life. Big government leads to a miserable life. I’m enjoying a much better quality of life in Nevada with lower taxes- it isn’t even close.
Here’s the reality- the high tech revolution has killed the progressive and socialist dream. We aren’t trapped anymore. You can’t tax us to death, simply because you don’t own us. We have I-Phones, I-Pads, I-Pods, text, laptops, and Satellite TV. We can do business from anywhere in the world- from a beach in Sydney, to a mountaintop in Nepal, to a forest in New Zealand, to a luxury high rise in Hong Kong. It’s called freedom.
Sorry Obama your dream is about to collapse. Ask Phil Mickelson, or the President of France, or all those millionaires missing in England, or soon half the business owners in America.
Tax and spend is DOA (dead on arrival).
