Let me sum up this New Geography article (via Instapundit):
- Top states with most $250K households: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington DC.
- Top metro areas with most $250K households: Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Washington DC.
- States with highest average housing values / mortgages: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Washington DC.
- Metro areas with highest average housing values / mortgages: Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco.
- States with the highest percentage of people taking itemized deductions: California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Washington DC.
You notice the trend? That’s right: there’s a lot of blue there. If we call the Democrats’ bluff and they refuse to stop tax hikes from coming through next month, then there’s going to be one heck of a headache throughout Blue America. If we insist on capping the mortgage deduction at something that our base considers reasonable then the results from that are going to splash all over the Northeast and Left Coast. And if we stop letting Blue America get away with claiming their state/local taxes as a deduction then there’s going to be Hell to pay in Democratic-controlled state legislatures across the land.
In short: the Democrats may be bluffing. And they may not be bluffing. Either way, it’s no skin off of my nose if the Democrats want to gut-shoot their own core geographic constituency. In fact, I consider it to be something of a teachable moment.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
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