Why First World Countries Have Third World Cities

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Both Baltimore and Detroit make it into the top 5 cities with the highest tax burdens, according to the Office of Revenue Analysis. As for New Orleans, Louisianans face the third highest combined state and local sales taxes, as well as excessive levels of deficit spending. These three cities are also plagued by excessive and even bizarre occupational licensing laws. Louisiana licenses florists, Detroit licenses hair-braiders, and Maryland counties license fortune tellers. If only Maryland’s licensed fortune tellers could have predicted that big government would cause businesses to flee these cities.

As if these regulations and taxes weren’t enough, labor market restrictions have left job-seekers in Detroit and Maryland crippled. Both cities have unionization rates higher than the national average (10.7%), alongside minimum wages exceeding the federal $7.25 level.

If New Orleans were a country it would have the second highest homicide rate in the world.

Not unexpected, this has significantly increased unemployment, with Detroit and Maryland having unemployment rates of 8.1% and 6.1%. Admittedly, this is one area where New Orleans has excelled with a union membership rate of only 4.2% – although having the worst education rank in the nation has prevented wage growth.

Turning over to gun violence, the picture gets even worse. Per 100,000 people Detroit’s gun homicide rate (35.9) is just shy of El Salvador’s rate (39.9), Baltimore’s rate (29.7) nearly matches that of Guatemala (34.8), and if New Orleans were a country it would have the second highest homicide rate in the world (62.1) – behind Honduras (68.3) and well ahead of Venezuela (39.9). Incidentally, these three cities have some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

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