Latest NYC Tax Grab Chases Rush Away

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh recently announced he was packing his bags and leaving New York City in a dispute over taxes.

My first question is, who knew Rush Limbaugh maintained a home in one of the highest-taxed, most liberal cities in the world?

The second question is, why did it take Rush this long to realize that the city would eventually make a run at him and his money (as it has long done to other successful and wealthy people)?

"Rush Limbaugh is vetoing New York City taxes –literally by selling his posh residence there.

The state had imposed a so-called “millionaires' tax” on wealthy residents to help cut a huge budget deficit, which Limbaugh said punished "“the achievers for the mistakes ... on the part of a bunch of corrupt politicians."

Higher-incomed New York City residents can expect to pay more than half their pay in income taxes.

Already the city and state impose an additional 12 percent, on top of the highest federal tax bracket, set to hit 39 percent at the end of this year.

On his personal and investment income Limbaugh likely had to pay New York state and city taxes for only the days he resided in the Big Apple. In recent years, however, New York tax authorities have aggressively sought to fully tax the income from media personalities who live outside the state but who broadcast via a signal from New York."

It's almost besides the point that the technical merits of the city's attempt to tax 100% of his personal and investment income (i.e., because his radio show is technically broadcast from NYC via a signal), despite residing in NYC only a few days a years, is incredibly weak.

There never will be "enough" tax revenue for cities like New York and others, because they will spend every nickel they receive, and borrow billions more in unrepayable debt, to spend on wasteful and destructive social programs that should not have been funded in the first place.

Ultimately, the people of NYC that have elected the tax-and-spend legislators are the ones who are responsible for the inhospitable business environment that exists in NYC, and are the ones who need to rethink the type of person and policies that they want representing themselves.