Anyone Else Getting Drilled by Car Registration Fees? (Santa Ana, Anaheim: apartments, day care)

[steel7]

Ca isnt a bad place to live but its so damn expensive. Its ashame brown lied to us but so did arnold & grey davis. I guess you cant be a politician unless you're a liar.

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by steel7

Ca isnt a bad place to live but its so damn expensive. Its ashame brown lied to us but so did arnold & grey davis. I guess you cant be a politician unless you're a liar.

Nope.. it isn't at all .. it's a naturally beautiful place w/ amazing weather. The taxation and cost of living however are a factor in people decisions ... This isn't helped by, as you state, the clowns who run the state and keep getting elected to. Comes to hard decisions for some. To others, the allure of beauty, beautiful weather, and opportunity outweigh it all .. Their efforts/energy lie in their work and in enjoying the state.. not much else.. and well, the politics/government reflect that valuation system.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

Agreed, your low/mid-low don't pay much tax in CA ... CA's taxes are largely progressive. As for tax estimates though, one minor correction. You only need to clear around $86-$87k as a single individual in order to be on the hook for $6,000 in income tax. This is the average salary of a starting engineer.

Its obviously going to depend on the deductions, I'm assuming a typical set of deductions. That is, mortgage interest deductions, 401(k) contributions, etc. But an individual income of $85k is around double the median individual income.

My point is that the vast majority of California residents don't pay high taxes in comparison to other states, yet people always talk about the high taxes.

Anyhow, one thing I don't get about brown is that he is going to take the income tax increases off the table due to the increase in tax revenue, why not the sales tax? Sales tax is regressive, especially now with the internet, so it should be the first to be removed.

[00molavi]

When I was in Connecticut, we had to pay property tax on cars to the city. That was in addition to registration and all DMV fees. I don't have the exact numbers, but I had cars that were 12 years old and had 120K+ miles on them and the city would still value them at $5-7K (one of them was a Kia, no luxury brands here). So since moving to CA, I feel the pain less-at least on this specific fee.

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by user_id

Its obviously going to depend on the deductions, I'm assuming a typical set of deductions. That is, mortgage interest deductions, 401(k) contributions, etc. But an individual income of $85k is around double the median individual income.

My point is that the vast majority of California residents don't pay high taxes in comparison to other states, yet people always talk about the high taxes.

Anyhow, one thing I don't get about brown is that he is going to take the income tax increases off the table due to the increase in tax revenue, why not the sales tax? Sales tax is regressive, especially now with the internet, so it should be the first to be removed.

K, i will agree on some of these points. I will just say though ... typical deductions if you don't have a mortgage are not going to substantially impact the $6k figure. Further, if you have a mortgage such that you can deduct mortgage interest, you also have property tax that far outweighs any tax reduction from mortgage interest. The $6k figure related to (taxable income) .. sorry for my mistake in clarification.

I agree though hat the vast majority of Californian's, given that they don't make much, don't pay much taxes compared to other states... Its when you start making more/spending more that you do .. thus, the very regressive nature of CA.

Brown is an idiot I am afraid user_id ... I just wish he would make up his mind already so that people can decide what they want to do in reaction. As for sales tax, yeah... I know tons of people who order non-essentials completely from online to avoid taxes... Buying a computer/big ticket item... people have their friends buy it out of state .. $2,000 apple laptop .. ~ $180 in tax ... they'll just buy it out of state... amazon/etc.

The basic feeling I have about CA is that they have 100-200 diff. ways to tax you .. they don't really care about how they do it ... they literally seem to throw their hand in a jar and pick a # .... Their feeling is .. the weather is great ... the landscape beautiful .. people will just suck it up and deal w/ it ... if the reaction is that people subvert the tax measure.. and revenue doesn't come in as expected.. they'll just create a new one or increase some other one.. it's just revenue at the end of the day.. they could care less of what social impacts it has.. as long as they get their $$$

[user_id]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

K, i will agree on some of these points. I will just say though ... typical deductions if you don't have a mortgage are not going to substantially impact the $6k figure. Further, if you have a mortgage such that you can deduct mortgage interest, you also have property tax that far outweighs any tax reduction from mortgage interest. The $6k figure related to (taxable income) .. sorry for my mistake in clarification.

If someone making $100k puts 10% of his/her income into a 401(k) they will save almost $1,000 in state income tax. In terms of property tax, you're forgetting that renters pay property tax as well, they just pay it indirectly via their landlord.

Coming up with $15k in deductions isn't that difficult for an individual making $100k and that is all it would take to get your state income taxes down to $6,000. You are considering someone with no deductions at all...

Regardless, the tax burden in California is similar to other similar states, but the low/mid income folks get off easier than most other states. I'm really not sure why people complain so much about taxes in California, its just a popular meme I guess.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by user_id

Regardless, the tax burden in California is similar to other similar states, but the low/mid income folks get off easier than most other states. I'm really not sure why people complain so much about taxes in California, its just a popular meme I guess.

The problem is that with the cost of living here, you pretty much have to be high income relative to other states to have a comparable standard of living.

[drunk on kool aid]

Too bad there isn't a p*ssing and moaning tax -- budget problem solved.

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by drunk on kool aid

Too bad there isn't a p*ssing and moaning tax -- budget problem solved.

To bad there isn't a, since you think everything is so spiffy... pay 50% more tax .... that would solve the budget problem 10x over LOL

[user_id]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

The problem is that with the cost of living here, you pretty much have to be high income relative to other states to have a comparable standard of living.

Here? You mean Orange County? The median household income in California is around $60,000 and once you adjust for the higher incomes the cost of living in California is just a bit higher than average for the nation.

Also, where in the country can you have a truly comparable living for less? Buying a McMansion in some Texan suburb is nothing like living in say the Silicon Valley...