IRS data again shows taxpayers leaving Maryland
Recently released data from the IRS shows that about 5,500 more taxpayers left Maryland in 2012 than moved to the state.
Long-cited by tax critics as annual data that show the migration of taxpayers to lower-taxed states, some experts caution that not too much should be read into year-to-year changes.
Benjamin Orr, executive director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, said that the information shows some sense of migration, but it should not be mischaracterized.
“Most people can’t take their income with them when they leave the state,” Orr said. He noted that if someone leaves for a new job, the company will likely replace that employee so the income doesn’t leave the state. Or if a doctor retires, other doctors in the area will gain those patients.
“It implies that wealth is generally fleeing the state. In fact what we find is that Maryland has a growing population,” he said. “We still have one of the highest median incomes in the country, we still have the highest concentrations of millionaires on a per capita basis in the country, and we have one of the greatest numbers of ultra-high net worthindividuals.”
