United States: Top destination for adults who seek to relocate

According to Gallup, seven hundred million people would love to permanently move to another country.

The United States ranked first as the top destination where adults wanted to relocate permanently:

Nearly one-quarter (24%) of these respondents, which translates to more than 165 million adults worldwide, name the United States as their desired future residence. With an additional estimated 45 million saying they would like to move to Canada, Northern America is one of the two most desired regions.

The remaining top desired destination companies are predominantly European. Forty-five million adults would like to move to the United Kingdom or France, thirty-five million would like to move to Spain, and twenty-five million would like to move to Germany.

For the rest of the world, thirty million name Saudi Arabia and twenty-five million name Australia as their ideal home.

So what would happen if people could actually move wherever they wanted?

Singapore’s adult population would swell from about 3.6 million people to as high as 13 million. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the other hand, would lose 60 percent of its adult population.

More Negative Effects of Progressive Taxation

Joseph Henchman of the Tax Foundation discusses Britain’s rising tax rates on the wealthy:

In April, the United Kingdom raised its top income tax rate from 40% to 50%, imposed on amounts over £150,000 (approximately $245,000), jumping past Italy, Germany, Spain, and France. At the same time, Spain has cut their top tax rate on “foreign executives” to 24%, leading to a flurry of well-known Britons reclassifying themselves as Spanish executives.

From NCPA and the Weekly Standard:

• [N]ot only did [Spain] create a massive loophole, they backdated it to 2003, which was, coincidentally, the year David Beckham left Manchester United to join Real Madrid.
• Beckham became the first man in Spain to acquire “foreign executive” status; the tax break came to be known as “the Beckham Law.”
• And it has become an almost insurmountable advantage for Spanish soccer teams
• Deloitte Sports Business Group estimates that between the falling pound, the higher British tax rate, and the Spanish tax break, U.K. clubs would have to pay 70 percent more in order to match a player’s take-home pay in Spain.

Countries and states should always keep other jurisdictions in mind when setting tax rates. If you raise the rates to an uncompetitive level, don’t be surprised if you become uncompetitive.

Wealth is not a static quantity and it does not exist in a vacuum. It must be created. When a society punishes the creators of wealth, that society is sowing the seeds of its destruction. The lives we, of the industrialized world, lead are made possible by those leaders and innovators who are so often punished for their ability. If we continue on our current path, we will remove any and all incentive for success. In other words, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.