It’s a constant theme of ours at UP: blue state residents moving to red states and taking their money and businesses with them.

The numbers are get bigger every year. Our UP economics and demographics team has gained access to the IRS data over the entire period from 2012-23. Over that 11 year period, some $2 trillion in cumulative income has migrated out of high-tax blue states to low-tax red states.

This is larger than the entire GDP of most nations.

Our analysis also shows that nearly every blue state has lost income due to moving vans and nearly every red state has been a winner. Florida is the giant winner, New York is the weakest link.

So as blue states lose taxpayers, what is their strategy? As many as 10 blue states are contemplating raising their income or wealth taxes. It reminds us of the comedy routine of the Three Stooges on a rickety boat that is taking on water so they drill a hole in the bottom to get the water out.

For red states, the blue states are the gift that just keeps giving.