Census for 2010

In the year 2012 the US House of Representatives elections will be conducted within new congressional districts created by the various state governments based on the 2010 US Census data. This is a once every ten year process known as "reapportionment."

Based on a recent newspaper article I read here is a list of the states expected to gain and lose US House seats based on our shifting national population:

WINNERS:

Texas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Utah, Nevada, and Oregon

LOSERS:

New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and California

At first glance an obvious trend becomes very clear - America's population centers are moving away from cold, northern states to warm, southern states. Now if global warming is getting so bad that we are all going to die -- except for the celebrities flying in their private jets to global warming conferences apparently -- why are people moving to warm weather states? But more importantly I need to note that people are moving to states with NO personal income taxes -- Texas, Florida, and Nevada are in the "winners" list above in terms of state that will gain seats in the US House of Representatives.

So even though my "home states" of Iowa and Minnesota will likely lose clout in the US House of Representatives the one positive is that states free of state income taxes will gain more votes thus putting their Congressman in potential leadership positions to push for federal income tax reform.

We have to wait nearly 5 years yet (January 2013 when the new Congress is sworn in) to see the impact of these demographic shifts but so far it is encouraging from a tax reform standpoint.

Todd