This article was sent to the South Dakota Newspaper Association for publication.
For Immediate Release
Contact Information:
Robert “Bob”
L. Smith, 3rd
gopherstatepolitics.blogspot.com
651-222-6888
Letter to the Editor – February 2014
Why Do Minnesotans
Move to South Dakota?
Recently, I reviewed a study by the Center of the American
Experiment, Minnesotans on the Move to Lower Tax States (American
Experiment.org) covering 20 states based on the IRS tax return data that measures
movement from state to state, and gives us a relatively accurate picture of
population migration.
I wanted to see what the pattern was to our neighboring
states based on a normalized out movement using raw data and not netting in
& out movement nor considering money transfers. What the rate would be
adjusted per 100,000 population using Wisconsin as the norm. That meant going
to the Tax Foundation.org web site migration calculator to pull up the
Minnesota-Wisconsin data for 2005-2010 to match the above study.
Between the years 2005-2010 Minnesotans moved to South
Dakota at almost exactly twice the rate as they moved to Wisconsin, and moved
almost exactly three times the rate to South Dakota that they did to Iowa. Once
again, double the Wisconsin rate and triple the Iowa rate!
What attracts Minnesotans to South Dakota? The most obvious reason is no personal income
tax, and no estate tax and South Dakota is perceived to be more business
friendly. Please refer to The Great Minnesota Exodus Tax Acts of 2013 at
gopherstatepolitics.blogspot.com. This raises two questions. First, do some of
the Minnesota taxpayers moving to South Dakota take Minnesota businesses and
Minnesota jobs with them? Second, a larger issue looms, will the bad personal
and anti-growth business taxes passed by the Minnesota 2013 Legislature
accelerate movement to other more tax friendly states? And, more so, could
these bad laws deter job-creating businesses from starting or expanding in
Minnesota?
I’m very concerned. My hope is the Minnesota Legislature
will have the acumen to take immediate corrective action to prevent the
possibility of a downward-trending pace of potential economic recovery. Maybe
we can hear from the South Dakota Chamber and the Governor’s Office of Economic
Development with their thoughts, but it sure appears that South Dakota
political leadership has already figured this out!
Bob Smith 3rd
St. Paul, Minnesota
