DETROIT — As high-tax, progressive-led cities continue to bleed residents nationwide, locals and policy experts in Detroit are offering contrasting visions for the Motor City’s future — with some eyeing radical free-market reforms to attract those fleeing the East and West coasts.High state and local taxes, lingering crime concerns, and an astronomical cost of living continue to drive taxpayer flight out of blue strongholds like New York, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles.According to a study by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), taxpayers are consistently abandoning high-tax environments for fiscally friendly states. While Texas and Florida remain primary destinations, Sunbelt states like North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee are seeing record population gains.BLUE-STATE TAX BURDEN FUELS AMERICANS FLEEING TO REPUBLICAN-LED SOUTHERN STATESA high cost of living has caused people to leave big cities.
But some hope that free market reforms will bring new residents to Detroit. (Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)For many moving away from major metros, the decision comes down to basic math."Cost of living is probably a huge reason for it.Those cities are some of the most expensive in the country," Ferndale resident Andy Femminineo told Fox News Digital on Monday.Femminineo, who grew up in the Detroit suburbs and works downtown, noted that even high-earning tech workers are being priced out of coastal hubs."A lot of those people are showing up here in Detroit," he said.
"The cost of living [on the coasts] is outstripping the tech talent they have there, which is ridiculous.I mean, it's humongous talent and income there, and you still can't afford to live."Floyd Brantley, a born-and-raised Detroiter, sees the population shifts as part of a historical cycle for major urban centers."I think it's a nationwide trend, and what a lot of people don't realize is that cities are cyclical anyway," Brantley said.
"This isn't the first upw...