Florida was the No. 1 relocation destination for Americans in 2020, according to Move.org. New York and California took first and second place in the contest for which states had the most people choosing to leave. . . .

While the national average in property taxes is 1.07 percent, Floridians pay only 0.83 percent, and Californians pay even less—0.73 percent. But Pearson said the cost of everything else in California erased the benefit of lower property taxes. Additionally, Florida is one of only nine states in the country that has no state income or wage taxes.

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“With the COVID restrictions, a lot of businesses closed,” Pearson told The Epoch Times. “In turn, that caused an increase in homelessness. Then the governor enacted the zero-dollar bail policy and an early prison-release program, which caused the crime rate to skyrocket. Gas taxes were added. The cost of living was so high you could not get by if you were single. You literally had to have two or three incomes in order to make it.”

A specific motivator in Pearson’s decision to choose Florida was his “deep respect” for Gov. Ron DeSantis because of his moves to ban Critical Race Theory, to enact an anti-riot bill, and his unapologetic position of “backing the blue.” Pearson also admires the widely criticized decision by DeSantis to lift all COVID restrictions, which he believes are killing California.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom chose to maintain COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and to extend both state and federal emergency taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits. California’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is among the highest in the nation, second only to Hawaii’s 8.5 percent.

The national average is 6.1 percent. . . .

Pearson said California’s high unemployment fueled an explosion in homeless numbers, which had already been exacerbated by Newsom’s 2017 mental health budget cuts, which left unstable patients who would have otherwise been cared for wandering the streets.

“You can walk on every corner and find trash everywhere, needles and feces,” Pearson said. “It’s disgusting.” . . .

Like Pearson from California, Gainsborg wanted to return to Florida because she too felt uncomfortable discussing politics. According to Gainsborg, also a Republican, people in her predominantly liberal New Jersey neighborhood are not very receptive to listening to the other side. . . .

Gainsborg was also drawn to Florida by the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis. As a retired teacher, she supports his ban on critical race theory. She also favors his move to opt out of the additional $300 per week federal unemployment benefits, which she believes encourages people to avoid going back to work to earn a paycheck. . . .

Paying lower property taxes was a major qualifier in Gainsborg’s decision to move to Florida. Gainsborg’s husband, a forensics scientist, is also preparing to retire. But even with their combined retirement benefits, she said they would not be able to afford the property taxes they would have otherwise had to pay in New Jersey.

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(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Article written by Patricia Tolson. Photo by Markus Spiske/UnSplash)