California’s steady decline has been measured in many ways over the last decade, but new IRS data puts a hard number on the exodus. The state is now losing one taxpayer every minute, a stark indicator of a state in slow-motion collapse while its competitors surge ahead.
The Center Square notes the scale of the problem clearly:
“Florida welcomes a new taxpayer about every two minutes while California loses one about every minute, according to new data.”
The Washington Examiner, citing the same IRS-based analysis by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, highlights that California ranks at the bottom nationally.
“The states losing taxpayers most frequently are California, New York, and Illinois. California loses a taxpayer every 1 minute and 44 seconds.”
The contrast with states that prioritize lower taxes, lighter regulation, and functional governance could not be sharper. Florida, Texas, and North Carolina are gaining taxpayers faster than any other state. That trend is not an accident. According to Andrew Wilford of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation:
“Welcoming people moving from other states means more job creators, more innovators, and a larger tax base from the economic activity that they generate.”
California’s leadership insists the problem can be solved around the margins with tweaks such as easing zoning restrictions, but taxpayer flight is telling a different story. People do not uproot their lives over a single issue. They flee when the cumulative effect of taxes, regulations, crime, cost of living, and quality of life reaches a breaking point.
IRS data shows how dramatic the financial impact has become. The Center Square reports:
“California saw a lost 9 billion dollars in taxpayer funds during 2018, this number dramatically increased to 29 billion dollars lost in 2020.”
Florida, by comparison, experienced an explosion in tax revenue, gaining up to 39 billion dollars in 2020 alone from new residents.
These numbers represent more than spreadsheets. They represent a vote of no confidence in the direction of America’s largest blue state. California’s political leadership can keep pretending the problem is superficial, but taxpayers are sending a message every sixty seconds. They are choosing to leave. The only question left is how long the state can pretend not to notice.
