Reducing Taxes: Which State did you move to?

[Hamlet]

I'd think of moving to reduce overall cost of living, but not just one part of it (taxes). To me, that's the way to go. I think that moving just to reduce taxes is allowing the emotional, anti-authoritarian tail to wag the dog.

Yup. Taxes are way down on the list of things that would make me move.



Friends and family, weather, traffic, housing costs, health care availability, etc are all much more important to me.


Once you do get into looking at the taxes, "low-tax" is going to vary widely for people based on lifestyle and the sources of their income.


I'm kind of hoping to get carried out of my current home though. I hate moving. I suspect that if I do move down the road, it will be from this house to an apartment with assisted living options.

 

[audreyh1]

You probably know this, but Oregon and Washington west of the Cascades are cool and wet in winter, but almost never cold. I have a down jacket from years ago, but rarely wear it in the city.

Ha

It’s far colder in the winter than where I currently live. Plus long dark nights.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I think that moving to reduce taxes is the stupidest thing ever.

OK, bear with me....

I'd think of moving to reduce overall cost of living, but not just one part of it (taxes). To me, that's the way to go. I think that moving just to reduce taxes is allowing the emotional, anti-authoritarian tail to wag the dog.

To me, the decision should be based on:

1.) What happiness/satisfaction would I receive from living in that location?
2.) What is the overall cost of living in that location?

Deciding on a retirement location is sort of like buying a car. Figure out what you can afford (without diminishing your desired lifestyle), and from those locations figure out which will make you happiest.

A recent study found people are happier in states that spend money on public goods like parks, libraries and highways - "Americans are happier in states where governments spend more on public goods, among them libraries, parks, highways, natural resources and police protection, a new study has found."

Source -
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190107075713.htm

We moved to where we live now during our working years partly for the jobs but also our main non-job criteria was the parks, weather and things to do.

 

[cusetownusa]

Exactly. I'm sure you remember this:

lol that just made my day.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

lol that just made my day.

The news clip also belongs in the Proofreading thread.

 

[Big_Hitter]

My choice would be Nevada, Reno area. We are familiar with the place as we scouted the place for potential retirement place. It's a striking difference from Bay Area where we live now, and Los Angeles where most of our relatives reside. We can play golf most of the year. House prices are relatively cheap compare to CA, and there is no State income tax. Unfortunately, those are the only positives from our perspective (YMMV), hence, we are not serious about moving to Nevada. We accumulated enough to retire in Bay Area but we will see what happens when I have to start withdrawing from 401k.

I have a favorable impression of Reno. Similar to Boise.

 

[VanWinkle]

Convincing the wife to move out of Illinois has been impossible for me so far.

I got her to visit the Crossville area where Fairfield Glades is located(lots
of golf courses). This is the first move in a long drawn out process that may
end in staying put in Illinois.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

View attachment 31172

I recalled that Snopes looked at this one, and found that the still-shot from the broadcast didn’t accurately reflect the news report (I.e. Cooper wasn’t attempting to make it look worse than it was): https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/anderson-cooper-hurricane/

The weatherman fighting those “gale force winds”, on the other hand, deserves all the Pinocchios.

Back on topic, I love where I live, and would prefer to stay in retirement (which is still 10-14 years away). Taxes are high, but services are generally good, and the climate just can’t be beat.

 

[Big_Hitter]

so can someone explain to me like I'm in sixth grade why anyone would move to an unbearable craphole just to save a few dollars on taxes?

 

[RobLJ]

We moved from TX to Reno 3.5 years ago and love it. But then we are hikers (we did the Tahoe Rim Trail 2 years ago), skiers, and I fly fish. The Truckee is a 1/4 mile from our house.

We also looked at the Olympic Peninsula (WA) and Colorado, but a main factor was that we're 3&1/2 hour drive from our oldest son and the grandbaby (we were pretty sure one was coming).
We're driving to Seattle tomorrow to see our youngest son; it's a pretty 11 hour drive.

My choice would be Nevada, Reno area. We are familiar with the place as we scouted the place for potential retirement place. It's a striking difference from Bay Area where we live now, and Los Angeles where most of our relatives reside. We can play golf most of the year. House prices are relatively cheap compare to CA, and there is no State income tax. Unfortunately, those are the only positives from our perspective (YMMV), hence, we are not serious about moving to Nevada. We accumulated enough to retire in Bay Area but we will see what happens when I have to start withdrawing from 401k.

 

[Big_Hitter]

We moved from TX to Reno 3.5 years ago and love it.

excellent call!

 

[bada bing]

I live in Alaska and will keep my residency once retired.

Alaska has a reputation for being HCOL, although it has the
lowest tax burden of any state by a pretty big margin. The
truth about "HCOL" is that the costs aren't proportional depending
on means. Alaska isn't particularly expensive to live at or above
upper middle class, but is brutally expensive if your means are below
that. The reason is that food and medical costs are way above lower
48 but everything else is in-line or even cheaper. Western Washington
(I grew up in Gig Harbor) is a more expensive place to live a "nice"
middle class lifestyle than just about any major town in Alaska.

There are lots of fairly well-heeled Alaskan retirees. lt is (IMO) the
most beautiful state during the summer. No place in the USA compares.
It takes some means to really get to enjoy it though. It is also important to
have the means to escape from at least part of the winter or have a very
high tolerance for cold, dark and dreary.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

so can someone explain to me like I'm in sixth grade why anyone would move to an unbearable craphole just to save a few dollars on taxes?

Absolutely unbelievable, but maybe it is because they HAVE to...…. and they have no choice. No cheapsville for us. After all it is America, you get what you pay for and you buy your standard of living accordingly.

 

[Camping]

As the thread starter I'm delighted to have read all the reasons why members moved, where you have moved to and from, and the reasons for moving or staying put.

As all the replies have shown, there are many factors with many variables which come into play when making a decision. Some have a high income, and so would logically choose an 'income tax free' state to live in.

Our state/local income tax burden is around 7.5%. My wife and I have no emotional bonds to our state (no realestate, no relatives, no long term friends, we grew up in different states, etc.). Upon retirement we will still have a decent income (pension and 401K ) which means that our current state/county would still be taking a fair amount if we stayed. So, in our situation it is logical to find a new home state that would have low or no income tax and where we would be happy to live in. We hope to establish a new state residence/domicile with weeks of retirement.

I'm originally from the north east, wife is from the mid South, so we are thinking about Florida as a default state. Although no income tax is the main reason, another would be for the climate along with not being too far from our few relatives. Still not an ideal location, but it seems to be a good choice for our circumstances.

 

[Camping]

I moved to Maine.

My pension is not taxed here and the property taxes are extremely low.

We enjoy the climate also.

Your situation seems unique for Maine in general. Where (general location if you don't want to say) in Maine do you live and where/who is your pension from?

I considered Maine, looking at houses for sale online (Zillow) to get an idea of cost. Though priced lower than other places in the US (inland, far away from the coast) the 1.5-2.1% property tax rate (in the towns I looked at) put me off. This is considering there is income tax on pensions above $6K ($12K jointly) According to this [mod edit: site "Retirement Egg", tab "Retirement Planning," then "Retirement by state", then "Maine"]. Add an annual excise tax on personal property https://www.maine.gov/revenue/propertytax/sidebar/excisetax.htm , then the expense of heating cost for the long cold winters. The tick epidemic is also worrying, so no walking in the woods now a days.

I'd would like to spend mid Oct to the end of Dec there though (less likely to get ticks). Love the fall colors, first snow on Thanksgiving with Family, Christmas shopping at LL Bean with their Christmas display, getting dark at 4pm. Jan 2nd though I would be high tailing it to Florida or someplace warm.


[mod edit to remove commercial link]

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Here's a useful tool:

https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/reti...by-state-guide-to-taxes-on-retirees/index.php

I kind of get heartburn over some of these online comparison articles.

After I retired, I moved to the state with the oldest average age and the highest percentage of retirees. I saw that with these extremely low home and land prices, and the low property taxes, I would easily be able to support my family here.

We have friends who live in Maine's largest city [Portland pop:65,000] and their Cost-Of-Living is nothing like what we see. They will easily pay 10X more for homes [whether buying or renting] and the same goes for their taxes.

Online articles about comparing COL of different states, must all be using prices and taxes from the city of Portland, and not from the rest of this state.

Zillow sends me a weekly update on home prices in my area, so I am constantly seeing home prices in the $30k to $40k range for 3bdrm homes on 5 acres of land. Sure there are also tourist towns with $100k homes, but that is not the norm for most of this state.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Zillow sends me a weekly update on home prices in my area, so I am constantly seeing home prices in the $30k to $40k range for 3bdrm homes on 5 acres of land. Sure there are also tourist towns with $100k homes, but that is not the norm for most of this state.

You cannot get a mobile home here for $30k! Let alone a real house. But we have no snow.

 

[H2ODude]

Taxes are only one part of the COL. I've lived in several states and frankly I care more about the QOL (quality of life). I'm appalled at the litter and appearance of one of my former residence cities when I go back. Not a snob about where I live, but damn If I'd move solely to eliminate state income tax which is substantial for us.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

You cannot get a mobile home here for $30k! Let alone a real house. But we have no snow.

We have 150 acres with a quarter-mile of river frontage and a large house, our property taxes are around $850/year.

When I was working we owned homes in many high-cost cities. Our vision for retirement was to live rural. We have been at this location for fourteen years, so far we enjoy it [even the winters].

 

[W2R]

As the thread starter I'm delighted to have read all the reasons why members moved, where you have moved to and from, and the reasons for moving or staying put.

As all the replies have shown, there are many factors with many variables which come into play when making a decision.

So true! Lower taxes, nicer weather, peaceful rural location - - so many factors have been cited in this thread. For me one of the main reasons why I didn't move, is that my sweetie decided to stay here. That makes New Orleans seem like hands down the most attractive location on earth, to me.

New Orleans also has a few attractions other than being F's home. Examples would be its music, architecture, history, food, moderate cost of living, laissez faire attitudes, Mardi Gras and other festivals year around, and indescribable but fascinating local culture and people. It would be impossible for me to ever get bored while living in New Orleans. Also I love the warm weather, although it is too hot and humid here for most people I suppose.

It would be even nicer if we had beaches, no hurricanes, and lower crime, but then it would be Hawaii (my family's home years ago), and the COL would be much higher plus I have heard that Hawaii has changed a lot in the past half century. Be that as it may, what it all comes down to is that there are always trade-offs to living in any location.

 

[Clone]

so can someone explain to me like I'm in sixth grade why anyone would move to an unbearable craphole just to save a few dollars on taxes?

The simplest explanation that I can think of is this: Not everybody values the same experiences, environment, climate, and activities in the same way that you do.
There are people who do not understand why anybody would live more than 50 miles away from an ocean. There are people who like to live where it actually gets dark at night. Some folks like the snow, even though other folks are terrified by it.

People live in many different places, for many different reasons.

To directly answer your question- There are nice places to live in each of the 50 states. Why somebody would move to a 'craphole' would indicate that they have a very different set of values, or mental illness.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

There are people who do not understand why anybody would live more than [-]50[/-] 5 miles away from an ocean.

That's better.

 

[Rushmore]

Absolutely unbelievable, but maybe it is because they HAVE to...…. and they have no choice. No cheapsville for us. After all it is America, you get what you pay for and you buy your standard of living accordingly.

One person ”craphole”. May be someone less perfect place to live. I know many people think that of say the dakotas, but I like it here. I don’t like living in a large city. I like winter more than summer. I have family and some really good friends here. People in the Midwest still help one another, like just a couple of days ago my sister had a flat tire. The NEXT car stopped and changed o the spare. Two more cars stopped to ask if they could help. She didn’t have time to call AAA.

 

[target2019]

so can someone explain to me like I'm in sixth grade why anyone would move to an unbearable craphole just to save a few dollars on taxes?

Some might be moving to save a bit on taxes, and then try to improve the location.

 

[Walt34]

so can someone explain to me like I'm in sixth grade why anyone would move to an unbearable craphole just to save a few dollars on taxes?

As the others said, different priorities. While Bamaman is doing a fine job of selling me on Alabama, living close to family is of extreme importance to me and DW, and Alabama doesn't work for that. I'd love to live somewhere where "snow" is something you only see in pictures, but that's too far from family too. And really, it's only about three months of the year so I can't say it's intolerable.

For the life of me I cannot fathom why anyone would subject themselves to the misery of living someplace as crowded as NYC, but obviously ~8 million other people like it there since they stay. Likewise I suppose many of them cannot fathom why anyone would choose to live in West Virginia or New Mexico.

Everyone gets (more or less) what they want that way so it's all good.