About a month and a half ago I noted that Sean Hannity stated on his show that he was committed to stay in New York until at least 2017 because #Benghazi. No, just kidding. He was staying in New York because he wanted to wait for his son to finish high school. Now he has changed his mind and leaving New York because #Benghazi. He will be moving to Florida and have a 'ranch' in Texas. The Florida move is not surprising. Below the fold we will take about how he screws the state of Texas and other tidbits.
As noted in the previous diary, Florida is rated as the state with pretty much the lowest tax burden, while ALEC rates the education about the same as New York, while more legitimate organizations rate Florida as significantly lower but still in the top 10 states. So apparently excellent schools are no longer more important than lower taxes.
So, I guess this is good news for New York, and since Florida already has to deal with Rush Limbaugh, Hannity can't make anything worse.
Oh, I suppose Florida's unreasonable actions preventing off shore drilling is also no longer an issue.
It is not so good news for Texas. If he was buying a second home, it would be. He would have full taxes on it since it was not his primary domicile. As he not the kind to buy a bit desert in West Texas, we can assume that the taxes would be significant, and Texas would have another honest citizen.
Unfortunately, he is getting a ranch. For the most part, when a person who has no interest in agriculture says 'ranch', what they mean is luxury estate with a few donkey's on it. This allows an agricultural exemption that significantly reduces the property taxes on the land.
So, to sum up Hannity is presumably taking his son away from some of the best schools in the US and putting him in schools that are no so good, unless of course he is leaving his family in New York, just to save a bit in taxes. He is buying land in Texas and calling it ranch so he does not have to pay taxes on what presumably is a luxury estate. He does, after all, now live in a 3.9 million dollar luxury estate now, and is unlikely to live in a single story 800 square foot house with chicken and goats running around.
I think my original theory was correct. Hannity is leaving New York simply because he can no longer afford the life style. From a conservative point of view, that makes him a failure as provider, and really it could be said a man. Last year he lost his Fox News time slot to Greta Van Susteren. To make matters worse, on average Savage does just about as well as Hannity on per station basis, and in many major markets, Savage has double the audience.
It is reasonable that this is really about the ability to sell a home on Long Island at a price that is not under water, and that Hannity is going to Florida for the same reason most people in the New York go to Florida. To retire.