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Old 02-07-2015, 11:02 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyJohn View Post
To respond to the OP, I also own my own financial business, and therefore I too can live anywhere. If you are a high income earner, there just isn't anything that beats no state income tax. I think you almost answered your own question in your original post, but all of these other little fees and breaks just don't add up to be enough. SC is beautiful, and I love the Charleston area, but if your income is high enough, and all other things are equal, you probably can find somewhere in Florida that you also like just about as much as Charleston. Personally, I live in NV, so that explains my avoidance of income tax as well. Now if you are willing to pay more because you love someplace, then that is a completely different story. Money is meant to help make you happy.
HappyJohn nailed it. If you are high income (esp if you get into say $200k+), there is nothing that will beat a NO state income tax state. I'm in the same boat have my own business and can live anywhere. I live in WA State, no state income tax, property taxes are average, no high home insurance costs, low heating costs, no AC costs, no hurricanes, no tornadoes. It gets cloudy in winters here, but they have plenty of non-stop flights to Hawaii & SoCal and I can afford plenty of vacations with all that state income tax I save

You can also just rent vs. buy in Florida and Texas and avoid the high property taxes and insurance costs. Tennessee is another southern state with no state income tax (but they do tax interest income and dividend income). NV and WY are great b/c they have BOTH no state income tax AND low property taxes.

Some good NO state income tax snowbird combo's are WA State summers and FL winters, NH summers and FL winters, Jackson WY summers and FL winters, NV side of Lake Tahoe summers and FL winter
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Old 02-07-2015, 11:21 PM
 
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Should be noted SC is thinking about lowering the income taxes to 5%, least i think that's what it was.
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Old 02-08-2015, 07:52 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrh22 View Post
Yes, I understand the theory, I'm just struggling to get anywhere near the equilibrium. It's a teachable moment to see it in practice. There's a reason Texas is booming, and it isn't because it's a beautiful state with palm trees, coast line, and culture.

It's cheap, abundant labor, explosive business growth, and favorable business regulation.

It should cause zero wonder among the learned class why 0% income tax states are growing in leaps and bounds.


Thanks for the comments and thoughts.
Hi jrh22 - based on a job promotion we left expensive California for TX. Worse move we ever made. It was not cheaper in the long run. We did all the math just like you are doing but it all evened out somehow. Then you have the crappy construction of the homes, the very, very poor schools, until the kids get to college, the mass complacency, horrible auto insurance resolution for accidents (we were rearended 2Xs in 3 months) and the good ole boy network to work against you. Your car is leined by the state of TX so keep that in mind when you go to sell it, you have to get the lien released before you can sell. They do this so they can always come after you and sell your car for your registration if necessary.
I came back to CA in 90 days after moving our entire family to TX and it took another year to sell our home there. If you buy over $300K be sure you have a huge list of high earning friends to buy your home if you ever want to leave the state because the natives don't buy expensive homes and not many make the kind of $$ you are bringing into the state.
Foundations are the other issue in TX. A nightmare. This state would not even be on my list.

We worked numbers out between FL, DE and SC and arrived at SC. We are in a higher income bracket as well and we looked at the hurricane hits and mapped them over the past 20 yrs and felt that SC was a safer bet. Flood insurance may be a little more but nothing compared to the 2.2% prop taxes and Mello Roos we pay in CA, the Mello Roos are the way around prop 13 and the cost of these has gone up over $300 a year since we bought our home. Our taxes on a $341K sale price home (we bought new durning the crash) are over $6.5K a year. SC penciled out great for us and there are great schools there, just do the research. You don't have to go private. Our kids are at distinguished middle and high schools now and we have found magnet and charter schools, both public, that our kids can attend. Health care is better in SC than FL and the nuke plants and super fund site ratings are better than CA.

The charm, history, and the people of Charleston will welcome you with open arms. It doesn't feel like a touristy place Florida is all about the tourists.

My 2 cents. :-)
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Old 02-08-2015, 08:43 AM
 
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Robyn, you are so right!!
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Old 02-09-2015, 03:59 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattyshummel View Post
Hi jrh22 - based on a job promotion we left expensive California for TX. Worse move we ever made. It was not cheaper in the long run. We did all the math just like you are doing but it all evened out somehow. Then you have the crappy construction of the homes, the very, very poor schools, until the kids get to college, the mass complacency, horrible auto insurance resolution for accidents (we were rearended 2Xs in 3 months) and the good ole boy network to work against you. Your car is leined by the state of TX so keep that in mind when you go to sell it, you have to get the lien released before you can sell. They do this so they can always come after you and sell your car for your registration if necessary.
I came back to CA in 90 days after moving our entire family to TX and it took another year to sell our home there. If you buy over $300K be sure you have a huge list of high earning friends to buy your home if you ever want to leave the state because the natives don't buy expensive homes and not many make the kind of $$ you are bringing into the state.
Foundations are the other issue in TX. A nightmare. This state would not even be on my list.

We worked numbers out between FL, DE and SC and arrived at SC. We are in a higher income bracket as well and we looked at the hurricane hits and mapped them over the past 20 yrs and felt that SC was a safer bet. Flood insurance may be a little more but nothing compared to the 2.2% prop taxes and Mello Roos we pay in CA, the Mello Roos are the way around prop 13 and the cost of these has gone up over $300 a year since we bought our home. Our taxes on a $341K sale price home (we bought new durning the crash) are over $6.5K a year. SC penciled out great for us and there are great schools there, just do the research. You don't have to go private. Our kids are at distinguished middle and high schools now and we have found magnet and charter schools, both public, that our kids can attend. Health care is better in SC than FL and the nuke plants and super fund site ratings are better than CA.

The charm, history, and the people of Charleston will welcome you with open arms. It doesn't feel like a touristy place Florida is all about the tourists.

My 2 cents. :-)
There may be other undesirable things in TX like construction quality. But on a pure financial basis, if you net taxable income is the same in CA vs. TX you will come way out ahead in TX. If someone has $250k taxable income, they will pay $25,000 in state income tax in CA and ZERO in TX. Also, CA has much higher house prices than TX, so even with the higher property tax in TX housing is still probably less there. And you can write off property taxes. The public schools mostly suck in CA too unless you are in expensive neighborhoods.

For high income people the state income tax will be the biggest hit you will take of any type of state-to-state differences in taxes. A person with $250k taxable income moving from a no income tax state to South Carolina, will pay $17,500 additional in income taxes. Over 10 years that is $175,000 in lost income paid to taxes (and if you invest that at a 7% return compounded over 10 yrs that is really about $350k in lost money, over 20 yrs you are talking a million bucks in the Govt's bank account not in your bank account). That is a big hit and will be much bigger than any difference in property taxes, home insurance, sales tax, vehicle registration. If you add it up, differences in sales taxes and vehicle reg state to state are peanuts compared to the differences in state income tax for high income people. And Charleston is not a cheap area for house prices.

The Northeast and Midwest states double dip and hit you hard with both high property and state income tax.

But for some people, there is more to living in an area then the pure numbers of what you NET each year. But know that the state income tax is the big dog.
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Old 02-09-2015, 10:22 PM
 
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LoL
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Old 02-10-2015, 01:59 PM
 
Location: Columbia SC
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Buy a new car. In SC the sales tax is 5% with a max of $300.00. In MA on a $40K car it would be $2,500.00.
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Old 02-10-2015, 02:12 PM
 
Location: SC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johngolf View Post
Buy a new car. In SC the sales tax is 5% with a max of $300.00. In MA on a $40K car it would be $2,500.00.
That's not the whole equation though, you have to pay property tax on that car for the entire time you own it. That's going to be way more than the 5% of the vehicle over time.
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Old 02-10-2015, 08:04 PM
 
Location: Columbia SC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gquiring View Post
That's not the whole equation though, you have to pay property tax on that car for the entire time you own it. That's going to be way more than the 5% of the vehicle over time.
Many states/counties, etc. also have such but they call it a different name. In MA it is called a Vehicle Excise Tax versus a Personal Property tax.
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Old 02-10-2015, 09:14 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gquiring View Post
That's not the whole equation though, you have to pay property tax on that car for the entire time you own it. That's going to be way more than the 5% of the vehicle over time.
Then walk
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