>>I was shocked, simply shocked after moving to Texas - I heard a politician say how "Jobs go where taxes are low" - and he was teaching that to his own kids too.
>That's a nice fable, but not true.
>The best and highest paying jobs are in the big cities, where they tax you through the nose.

Yes, the highest paying jobs are in the big cities.
The city, like anybody else, will charge what the market will bear.
Duh.

I was focused on total wage growth (more wage earners at increasing wages).
Yes, jobs do go where taxes are low.
Every state and city that chases big employers with tax rebates knows this.

You are looking at the highest earners and ignoring the middle and bottom.
And yes, the highest earners are not as put off by high taxes as the rest of us.
Two different things.

You have the causation backwards.
The taxes are high because the high paying job holders will tolerate the taxes to get the wages and other goodies.
The taxes DO NOT in any way cause the high paying jobs.

If that were somehow true, Detroit would be a job mecca instead of a depopulating wasteland for the last few decades.

>>the community I left on Long Island (my daughter now lives in that house) has one of the highest rated school districts in the country, great municipal golf courses and some of the best parks. Because of that, real estate taxes are out of sight- insane.

Your city, unlike Detroit, did not squander the tax money.
You lived there because of the goodies, the taxes were of course one of the costs of getting those goodies.
You did not choose to live there for the distinct pleasure of paying those high taxes - that would be insane.

I would wager that you are more in favor of higher taxes when somebody else is paying them.