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The Tax Foundation has some bad news for anyone who has recently moved to DC from the South or the Midwest—your money just isn't worth as much as it used to be.
This map, created by the Tax Foundation with Bureau of Economic Analysis data, shows the relative value of $100 in each state. In DC, one of those green Benjamin Franklins will buy you stuff worth just $84 at the national average price level. This makes DC more expensive than any state, with Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and California rounding out the top five.
On the other end of the spectrum, $100 in Mississippi will buy you goods worth $115 at the national average.
The Tax Foundation's blog explains this disparity has major policy implications for things like public benefits, tax brackets and the minimum wage. For example, a $15 minimum wage in DC, which Mayor Muriel Bowser approved in June, would still be relatively little income compared to the same wage in, say, Arkansas. [TF]
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