The history of humanity is a history of people wanting to control their neighbors through government–and of their neighbors (and ultimately, themselves) fleeing the governmental environments they created for freer shores.
England, for example, was widely known to be freer than continental Europe throughout the past thousand years. Vagabonds, exiles and wandering gypsies from throughout the world came to her. Then there were the British colonies: America, Canada, Australia, etc. These were free societies compared to most of the world, and millions fled to them.
North Koreans flee to China. East Germans fled to West Germany, etc.
Even within the U.S., people flee from high-tax, overregulated states to low-tax, less regulated states. Nevada, Florida, and Texas offer lower-tax alternatives for the overburdened taxpayers of New York, Illinois and New Jersey. See here.
In 2013, Florida gained $8.2 billion in adjusted gross income from new arrivals. Texas gained $5.9 billion. Five of the seven states with the biggest income gains — Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington and Nevada — have no income tax.
New York again was the big loser, with another 112,236 tax filers leaving and taking $5.2 billion with them. Illinois lost nearly 67,000 tax filers and $3.7 billion of income that it can no longer tax.
