Let's face the facts. One man cannot make a difference. At least not by voting, certainly: the probability that your vote will affect the outcome of any election is essentially zero. Maybe by persuasion you can influence a few friends of yours, but big whoop. The probability of changing the outcome is still zero. Maybe your career happens to be in journalism or politics or teaching or somesuch, in which case you can maybe make a bit more of a difference. But, even here, let's be real: how many people enter these fields hoping to "make a difference", and how many actually do? And for those of us whose careers *aren't* in these areas, are we really going to give up our current career to switch to these fields? For those who would say "yes", I have three words for you: severely reduced pay!

Oh, sure, there are always a few people who make it big and do make a difference. But for every Daily Kos or Instapundit there's a million blogs no one reads. Again, the odds are against you.

So let me propose a way of making a difference that (1) isn't a huge amount of effort, (2) will probably *save* you money rather than costing you money, (3) is very effective, especially over the long run, and (4) puts you in good company with the millions of other people who have done it. It's not for everyone -- some people will have good reasons why they can't or shouldn't do it, or perhaps can't do it right now. Some people have already done it (I have), and they can't do it twice. And, unfortunately, it only works for conservatives and not for liberals. Sorry, liberals, but you'll have to come up with your own ideas.

So what in the world am I talking about??

Very simple. Move to one of the following states: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. These states all have one thing in common: they don't have an income tax. And for reasons that need no explanation, that absence of an income tax seems to cause people to flood in like crazy. According to Census figures , 2.3 million people moved to these states from the other 41 states plus DC from 2000 to 2006 -- about 1000 people per day. In fact, the only one of these states to lose population to internal migration was Alaska. Even South Dakota had positive net internal migration, whereas similar neighboring states like North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska all lost substantial numbers of people to migration. (Note that I am speaking of *internal* migration, not immigration. Every state in the country had positive net immigration, whereas net internal migration has to add up to zero by definition.)

For comparison, most other states have an income tax with top rates in the 5-10% range. And before you say, "but they're mostly just taxing the rich! That doesn't affect me!", think again. In my former state of residence, California, everyone pays 9.3% on each dollar past about $45K, and 8% on each dollar past about $35K. Or the state I grew up in, Minnesota, where everyone pays 7.05% above about $20K and 7.85% above $70K. A few other choice states with outrageously high state income taxes even for modest earners are Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Yes, yes, there are some deductions and credits you can claim, and married people get higher brackets, and you can generally write these taxes off as deductions against your federal tax (watch out: this is a good way to hit AMT very quickly in most of these states). But you can still very easily end up paying a staggering amount in income taxes alone.

"But surely the other states make up for these income taxes by having lower property and sales taxes?" Sure, there are a few states where that's true. Oregon and Delaware have significant income taxes, but no sales tax. Colorado has a modest income tax but is generally low-tax in other ways. But for each example like this, there is a state like New Jersey, which has outrageously high taxes of all three types. And sure, New Hampshire may have high property taxes, but it has no income *or* sales tax.

If you live in a high-cost-of-living area like NYC or SF, you might also be surprised at just how *cheap* everything is out in some of these other states. The houses, obviously, and the rent on apartments, surely -- those are the obvious ones. But groceries, utilities, gas, ... you're saving across the board, not just taxes. (Not entirely surprising, since commercial rents are cheaper, too, and businesses can pass on their tax savings to their customers in the form of lower prices.)

"But roads and schools cost money. If these states have such low taxes, they must be terrible places to live -- the government can't afford to do anything!" If you think that, you're probably a liberal, and this whole idea probably won't appeal to you anyway. In any event, many places have high taxes and still have terrible roads and schools. I can speak from personal experience that the roads in California were, with a few exceptions, absolutely terrible. As far as schools go, do you really want your kids going to government-run schools anyway, where their heads will be filled with socialist and environmentalist propaganda? You don't have to be a Christian fundamentalist to think that your kids will be exposed to bad influences in public school -- I'm an atheist and I'd worry too about things like the increasing sexualization of young girls. Anyway -- yes, it's true, low-tax states have lower government spending. This is a good thing. Less money spent on Medicaid and other handouts for poor people. Less money spent on absurdly generous pensions for unionized government employees. Less money spent on busybody regulators.

Really, the problems with these places, if there are any, are mundane ones like: can you find a job there? Do you like the culture and the activities in the area? But these 9 states are all over the country geographically, and their cultures, climates, and economies are quite varied. If you can't find a place you like within those 9 states, I would submit that you aren't trying very hard. Like skiing? NH, NV, and WA might be for you. Hate the cold? You might enjoy FL, TX, or NV (Vegas area this time, not Reno). Want a big plot of land with picturesque mountain views? WY might be just right. Like hanging out with those artsy liberal yuppies even though you hate paying the taxes they always seem to vote for? There's always Seattle, WA and Austin, TX.

And here's what's wonderful about the whole thing. Every time a person ditches, say, New Jersey for Florida, the fiscal hole NJ faces just gets deeper and deeper. The state politicians in places like CA and NJ don't dare take on the powerful union bosses and will eventually raise taxes again instead of cutting spending. For example, NJ just had some big tax hikes after Corzine became governor, on top of several previous ones before that. CA taxes haven't gone up for a few years now, but every year there's a budget shortfall and every year the Democrats propose raising taxes to fix it, while no one seriously proposes cutting the taxes. In any event, every time the taxes go up, the outflow of people speeds up. It's a death spiral. Eventually even the most dutiful taxpaying citizens start asking themselves : why? The people who leave are generally richer than average, while those arriving are often not so rich. The new arrivals pay a lot less in taxes and consume more services. It's a no-win situation.

The no-income-tax states have the opposite problem. They don't get a huge windfall, but I guarantee you that Texas (my new state of residence) will still get a lot more in taxes from me than it'll have to pay out in government services for me.

At the same time, these population shifts hurt the national political influence of the high-tax states. (It is left as an exercise to the reader to go back and see how many of the no-income-tax states are red vs. blue states.) 2.3 million people worth of migration is roughly 3 House districts or 3 electoral votes. It's well known that states like New York have been losing congressional districts for decades, but you might be surprised to learn that California is no longer expected to gain any congressional districts in 2010 , for the first time in its state history.

Conservatives, if you really want to make a difference, ditch those high-tax states already! By staying, you're just propping up the system you hate. By leaving, you are speeding up its demise. If you live in a high-tax state, don't bother trying to change your state politicians' tax-and-spend minds. Hit them where it really counts, in their wallets. Every dollar of yours they don't have is a dollar they can't spend.