By Bill Mattox, JMI Resident FellowTags: State Income Tax, SportsAs I noted in a recent blog, LeBron James (LBJ) is strongly considering moving from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat so that he can play in a state with no income tax. Apparently, James thinks that he can assemble a stronger team around him since players can “net” more (even if they gross less) in Florida.Surely, James is not the first Midwesterner to see the economic advantages of earning in a state with no income tax. Several weeks ago, ESPN’s Ivan Maisel wrote an article about how the Rust Belt states that once produced the nation’s top football recruits (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc.) now take a back seat to states like Florida and Texas when it comes to recruiting.Maisel says this talent shift from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt is at least part of the reason why the Big Ten has had so much trouble keeping up with powerhouse teams in the South that draw a lot of their recruits from Florida and Texas.Now, there are many reasons for the population shift from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt over the last half-century. But LBJ is not the first economic free agent to see the benefits of eschewing a high-income-tax state to come to no-state-income-tax Florida.And when more and more folks move to Florida, this widens and deepens the potential talent pool of football players in the Sunshine State, which in turns makes it possible for three schools (Miami, Florida, and Florida State) that had never won a national football championship before 1983, to win ten national titles in less than three decades.To be sure, the lack of a state income tax isn’t the only reason (or even the primary reason) for Florida’s recent growth in population – and in football talent. But if I were a Big Ten fan looking for ways to keep more people – and more young football talent – in the Rust Belt, I’d be urging my elected officials to lower my state’s tax burden to make it more like Florida’s.
