New report highlights the counties that are doing the best and worst in the state.
A myriad of factors can
influence a person’s decision to move, and those with hearty paychecks might
pay particular attention to tax rates. Virginia saw a $1.77 billion gain in
annual adjusted gross income (AGI) between 1992 and 2013, largely due to transplants
from tax-heavy New York and New Jersey, according to a recent data map.
But not all counties are
seeing green.
Fairfax, Arlington and
Alexandria lead a handful of counties that lost more wealth than they gained,
with losses of $3.47 billion, $1.57 billion and $1.06 billion, respectively. At
the opposite end, Loudoun, James City and Prince William counties gained the
most wealth over that time period, each reeling in more than $1.2 billion.
The numbers come from
Travis H. Brown’s How Money Walks: How $2
Trillion Moved Between the States, and Why It Matters, a map that uses U.S.
Census Bureau and Internal Revenue Service data to show how wealth moved across
state and county lines from 1992 to 2013. Money and people migrated
overwhelmingly in favor of better small business climates: The states with no
income taxes (such as Texas and Florida) attracted the most wealth, while those
with higher income tax rates (such as New York and California) saw the greatest
losses.
Although much of the
wealth lost by Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria went to other counties within
the state, Virginia lost $3.3 billion to Florida and $2.48 billion to North
Carolina. Both states rank higher than Virginia in the 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index. Income-tax-free Florida gained the most wealth of
any state on the map, while Virginia came in at No. 20.
Here are the five counties losing the most wealth
in Virginia:
1.
Fairfax County lost $7.69 billion in
annual AGI and lost 30,719 residents
2.
Arlington County lost $3.47 billion in
annual AGI and lost 4,679 residents
3.
Alexandria City lost $1.57 billion in
annual AGI and gained 1,339 residents
4.
Virginia Beach City lost $1.06 billion
in annual AGI and gained 20,658 residents
5.
Norfolk City lost $1.04 billion in
annual AGI and lost 17,076 residents
