Policy as a Filter

I once had the brilliant idea of imposing a California state tax whose sole purpose would be to use the funds to help bring smart, promising young individuals from red states to California. It could be used as part of their college tuition, moving costs, or whatever else was needed to get smart people here who would help to make our state better.

The secondary benefit of my tax was that it would increase state taxes, which would help to drive away more tax-hating individuals who are in general more than likely, just a draw on the state’s resources, and whose principles inhibit our ability to push harder into science, technology, education, equity, and better governance.

I of course recognize that there are conservatives that add value to the state, and especially some conservative businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue. But there is a larger discussion that should be had on how much of that is needed, balancing private wealth generation and its actual cost to the public. Perhaps it’s a good thing to court those businesses, perhaps not.

But the idea of using policy to attract those you want, and filter out those you don’t isn’t something I see discussed very often, although it already plays a significant role in shaping individual states. There are some interesting discussions that could be had around this topic, and what types of policies we should have, not only to shape policy within the state, but also in terms of attracting the type of talent that we want and need to progress.