Poorly written opinion piece by a known anti-tax nutjob who believes that taxes aren't necessary because the free market will automagically solve all of society's woes.

By the way, she quite happily lives in NYC and has for many years. For all her talk, she really likes the quality of life that her high tax load makes possible--a lifestyle you can't get in one of the low-tax red states she reveres in her writing.

I don’t think that taxes play as much of a role as the author thinks they do. Sure, the recent tax bill limits deductions, but as long as the taxpayer values the amenities provided by living in a HCOL area more than the cost of said taxes, they won’t leave.

The bigger issue is, as always, the cost of housing. Decades of artificially limiting new construction is now causing residents to leave due to the (predictable) outcome of demand outstripping supply. What worries me is that those who are leaving these areas will bring their NIMBY ways with them.

> Am I the only one in my spinning class at Equinox in Manhattan who’s fed up paying $200 every month for a gym with clean showers, $3,000 in rent every month for an apartment without cockroaches and $8 every morning for a cup of coffee? Am I the only one moving through the greater part of New York City boroughs and seeing an inexorable march of urban decay matched with the discomfort of crowding and inexplicable costs? I know I am not.

I pretty much checked out here. It's too bad this drivel has made the homepage of HN - it's some sort of libertarian free-market fantasy written by someone that seems to pay for a lifestyle of luxury and then turn around and bemoan how much it costs. Seriously, Equinox is the most expensive and luxurious gym in Manhattan.

I live in NYC and will admit that not everything is sunshine and roses - I pay a lot of taxes, the subway has gotten significantly crappier over the last couple of years. On the other hand, my salary makes up for the cost of living, which is not as out of this world as one would think given that I don't need to pay for a car, gas, insurance and other things that would be a necessity in a place like Houston.

I could write as many words as the author did at what you'd be giving up leaving NYC for a place like Dallas or Nashville, but ultimately it's a personal choice. It's no surprise that more moving vans leave NYC than arrive - anecdotally (which is all this article is), most established upper-middle-class people don't move _to_ NYC with a family. It's mostly people early in their career, who probably aren't coming with a sofa, mattress and TV already.

I won't deny that it's tempting to find a way to lock in my current salary (or something close) and move to a low CoL city where I could afford 3br/2ba house with a yard, two cars, etc. With WFH becoming more popular, it would definitely take away from some of the downsides of having a commute.

This is a huge problem for “red” states/cities. Many of these people are fleeing a mess they had a hand in making and they haven’t learned their lesson.

They’ll be pushing the same political ideology of big government in their new home and blame the problem with their old home on corruption, while never understanding how the two are inextricably linked.