New York and California are the two worst states when it comes to personal freedom, according to an exhaustive new study released by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University.
In the “Freedom in the 50 States” study published last week, New York and California were last and second to last, respectively.
The survey took into account “fiscal issues such as job prospects and tax rates, regulatory policies that include property rights and personal freedoms such as gun laws.”
The study’s authors said “New York ranks dead last” when “it comes to overall freedom” because New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has tried to take away freedoms like banning the sale of sodas 16 ounces and larger, wanting more restrictive gun laws, and imposing high cigarette taxes. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, rammed through the country’s most restrictive gun control laws by exploiting the Sandy Hook tragedy.
The study found that “New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with roughly 1.7 million leaving between 2000 and 2010″ while Californians are fleeing the state to more business-friendly states because of the state’s high taxes and burdensome business and environmental regulations.
The study also found the “top five states with the most freedom are North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.”
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