While France's most famous actor, Gerard Depardieu, is now thelatest in a wave of tax refugees to flee the country before a newwealth tax kicks in in 2013, new data from the U.S. Census Bureausuggests that ordinary Americans with average incomes continue toflee high-tax states like California for low-tax states likeTexas.

Reports say that Depardieu waslikely motivated by tax avoidance considerations in moving to asmall town in Belgium adjacent the French border city of Lille. Themove comes after French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault made a similar cross-border move.

Depardieu was famous for representing the French “everyman” soit is no surprise his moving has set off both introspection and fury among your average Jacques.

Meanwhile, your average American Joe, with far less in earningsthan French millionaires and billionaires, continues his migrationfrom places like New York and California.

The Census Bureau reports that the most common state to statemoves in 2011 were New York to Florida (59,288), California toTexas (58,992) and California to Arizona (49,635).

Notably, the Census Bureau data shows that job-related factorssuch as a new job or transfer were most commonlycited reason for moving among the top two income categories($85,000 to $99,999 and $100,000 and above).

Mark Perry's U-Haul Index, tracking the number of one-way truck rentals, hasalso confirmed a pattern of ordinary people moving in the directionof lower taxes, the American Enterprise Institute economistmaintains.

Perry's U-Haul Index may become increasingly important toeconomists, demographers and other researchers if the IRS andCensus Bureau go forward with a reported plan to discontinuemonitoring tax migration data. National Review reported Tuesday that the Obamaadministration is “quietly killing” continued studies of thismetric, for which the government has compiled data since 1991.

The politically conservative publication opines that “bluestates with high state and local tax burdens have come out lookingbad in recent years. California and New York have been embarrassedpublicly, as a steady exodus is underway from both.”

The IRS has not officially explained the move, but “unofficiallyit is suggesting that the problem lies in coordinating with theCensus Bureau,” National Review continues. “It is asking forcomments on how people use the data and how important it is,presumably so that higher-ups at the agencies can reverse theirdecision if necessary.”

This article was originally posted at AdvisorOne.com, asister site of Credit Union Times.