Fed up with lockdowns and high taxes, rapper 50 Cent joins exodus from New York to mask-free Texas

After months of hinting at his frustrations with the high taxes and strict Covid-19 restrictions of the Big Apple, rapper Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson has joined the ranks of New Yorkers and Californians moving to Texas.

“I love New York, but I live in Houston now,” 50 Cent said on Tuesday in Twitter and Instagram posts. “I'll explain later.”

The rapper has apparently followed through after teasing in March that he was “headed to Texas.” 50 Cent made that statement when Governor Greg Abbott announced that he was halting the state's mask mandate and all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, declaring that “all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.”

50 Cent has run afoul of social-distancing restrictions. During Super Bowl weekend in February, he reportedly hosted a massive party, sans masks, at an aircraft hangar in St. Petersburg, Florida – in violation of city guidelines. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman threatened hefty fines, saying “it may end up costing someone a lot more than 50 cent.”

The move to Texas was also no doubt encouraged by the fact that the state has no income tax. New York City's top earners now face a combined tax rate of nearly 52% of their earnings, including 10.9% to the state, after Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law an increase in April.

The entertainer said last October that he would vote to re-elect President Donald Trump because Democrat nominee Joe Biden's fiscal policies would push his income taxes to a combined 62% of earnings. “I don't care [if] Trump doesn't like black people,” 50 Cent said. “62% – are you out of ya f**king mind?”

His Trump endorsement triggered an avalanche of criticism from left-wing observers, including journalist David Leavitt, who called him “a selfish piece of s**t.” Comedian Chelsea Hander told 50 Cent that, as a black person, he “can't vote for Donald Trump.”

But the rapper is far from the only rich celebrity to reject blue-state policies – at least to the extent that they are personally affected. Tesla founder Elon Musk and podcast host Joe Rogan moved to Texas from California. Wall Street billionaires, such as Leon Cooperman and Carl Icahn, have moved to Florida, another Republican-controlled state with zero income taxes.

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