Everything's more expensive in California. They used to call it the sunshine tax, but now California has become a colossal tax suck for all manner of leftist government takings. The state steals tax money from working people to cover the "we don't want to lock up criminals tax," the "we want to give free stuff to everyone, not a citizen tax."
They take the "we want to give free homes to drug addicts tax" out of everyone's paychecks and really stick it to people with their "we don't want you to drive" tax. The state is $73 billion in the red since Gavin Newsom became governor. Not a typo. Eventually, California will run out of other people's money but not before driving out more people yearning to be free.
Now a not-so-shocking survey shows that small business owners are making rebellious noises. They want to get out in huge numbers.
A majority of small business owners think they're living in "Hotel California check out in any time you like, but you can never leave." Put another way, they're "all prisoners of their own device," where they willingly started their business but now feel they're so entangled that they can't get the heck out of town.
A by RedBalloon, which touts itself as "America's largest and most successful non-woke job board and talent connector," says the "Hotel California" feeling is in full effect in the Golden State.
The joint survey with Public Square surveyed more than 800 businesses throughout the country in February for their Freedom Economy Index.
"We asked employers if they were considering moving their business to another state, and if so, why" and found that of those employers nationwide who wanted to move, 47.7% were happy where they were and fewer than 10% wanted to move.
Here's the graph showing the national picture.
But the numbers for California were just a bit different.
But in California, only 13% are happy with their location, and 67% are either planning a move (10%), considering a move (30%), or feeling trapped, wanting to move but can’t afford it (27.1%). They can check out anytime they like, but they can never leave.
See it for yourself:
The overwhelming number of California business owners, 86.4%, told RedBalloon that "high taxes are driving them away, and 84.9% say the anti-business government is also to blame." By comparison, 64.5% of employers in the rest of the country listed high tax rates as a reason they wanted to move and 59.4% cited "anti-business government policies" as why they wanted to get out.
This used to be seen as a market tell. We'll see if woke California Democrats will ever get the message. There just never seems to be enough of your money to satiate Democrats' desire to feed their favorite government "charities."
California is home to the most expensive cities in which to water your lawn if you can afford one. The seven most expensive cities in America are in California. You'd need to make $339,123 per year to feed, clothe, house, pay taxes, "and live comfortably" for a family of four in San Francisco. And don't get me started on real estate prices.
Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Andrew Crapuchettes is the CEO of RedBalloon. His biography says he moved to Idaho with his wife and five kids.
Now there's a market tell.
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