Thread by @mysteriousrook

What ideological garbage from Jeff Jacoby. And what a partisan, motivated misreading of the evidence. To not mention housing costs? What @GlobeOpinion garbage. Let me go after what Jeff willfully ignored. 1/x #mapoli
bostonglobe.com/2023/05/27/opi…

So sure, a very small number of rich people are leaving. In fact, rich people move often. Jacoby and Pioneer won’t baseline wealth migration over time, as that will hurt their argument.🙄 Are a few now leaving because of taxation? Yes. 2/x

In fact someone I know around here is living in NH a few extra months a year (he has five houses) to not pay here anymore. He spends 5 months a year here now instead of 9. On paper he “left.” 3/x

So who is most of who is leaving? The evidence slapped Jeff in the face, but he’s some old conservative white dude who doesn’t know any younger people, so let me help: young people with good jobs who probably don’t own houses yet. 4/x

Jeff sees the evidence that since the middle class isn’t leaving and the seemingly upwardly-mobile upper middle class is leaving - that they are the ones who are more tax-conscious, so therefore the tax climate is the reason. Totally wrong. 5/x

I am in the income group that is and has been leaving. I know *many* people in this group. Including some who have left. I have talked about the high cost of living with many of them over many years. We have never talked about taxation. 6/x

I own a house. The cost of living and childcare (if you can find it) is insane. But because I have a good job and I bought a house before things got nuts, I can struggle. If I were 27 and didn’t own a home? We’d probably have left. 7/x

Having a great job that makes you $150K a year at 27 won’t buy you a house anywhere in Greater Boston anymore. Not even close. Maybe if your spouse works. Maybe. But then it’s a struggle. And then you hear about #1 in America childcare costs. And then you bail. 8/x

Jeff thinks that the sub-100K crowd not leaving validates his argument. It doesn’t. First, many people in that bracket don’t file taxes at all, so the IRS data won’t be accurate. Nevermind all the income under the table there is in the $20-$100K income range. 9/x

Jeff doesn’t know any of the working poor. Or think about them. He doesn’t know they can’t afford to move, need family connections here, and can’t easily get jobs outside of MA. (Non-MA states might not give them healthcare, etc.) But the $150K guy can work down south. 10/x

Everyone knows the basics of cost of living are what are driving people out. (Housing, childcare, energy, etc.) It’s not taxes for the bottom 90%. Jeff says the government cant do anything about these problems 🙄 so it should lower taxes. Dear Lord. 11/x

What state government should do is take local control away from cities and towns in housing and start a building boom. It should do two things on housing: reduce regulations and slightly increase staffing ratios. It should also subsidize childcare. A lot. 12/x

There is a lot else it could do. If it wanted. And no - I don’t support taxing the rich more unless it goes directly into housing, childcare, and transportation. (What we need out of the rich is a big argument to be had. I’d love to write about that.) 13/x

That Jeff won’t talk about the housing problem when he lives not only in Brookline but near the huge loud battle over Harvard Street - means his mind is closed and his ideology is guarding the door. The rest of us must be open to more dramatic government actions. 14/14