The perfect place to live in Minnesota (Minneapolis, Duluth: camping, income)

[truedreamguide]

WINONA MN. is a small city(about 27,500 pop.) but full of culture,history and arts. It is a community wealthy in spirit, academics, recreation, wildlife and nature, and Minnesota Nice!

[Diamond Dee]

Former mn resident ,Blooming prairie,medford.and Rochester.

[jfog55372]

I live in Scott county. Lived in MN most of my life. I will be out of this state by end of summer or early fall. Can't wait to get out of here. Sick and tired of the winters, high taxes, current business climate and the nanny state that we are developing into. Life is way too short to live here!

[judogl44]

We're in Alexandria-it's a great town and has everything you could want-shopping, restaurants, lakes,etc. But JFOG-we so agree w/you-we too are moving out of MN after 2 years here. Love our home, town but the state income taxes are killers. We moved here from the land of high taxes-New Jersey-and the one thing I never researched was state inc. tax rates. Our accountant thought we were kidding when we picked up our tax returns this year and said "we're outta here!" Hopefully we can sell and get to the Carolinas soon.

[Jaxx99]

Good riddance, guys. Enjoy the greener grass on the other side.

[lundholmster]

High taxes?

I'm moving in from Sweden this fall and I'm looking forward to the lower taxes in Minnesota. Also, with higher taxes you should get better service, better roads and lower crime... no?

Taxes in Stockholm. 33%(or more) income tax. 25% VAT (12% VAT on food)

[Lindenin]

You are generally right, the tax burdens roughly reflect the services provided. Let's assume you are a high income earner. The federal income tax is 36%. Nationwide. You can't escape that no matter which state you choose.

Above that, each state does it differently. Tennessee, for example, charges no state income tax but has the highest sales tax in the nation (9.35%). Minnesota relies on a relatively hefty state income tax in return for decent property and sales tax (some will take issue with my claim that we have "decent" property taxes, but places like Texas make you pay way more prop taxes for way less house).

In on average, the state tax burden (all sources) is 10.10% across the nation. A little higher for a place like Minnesota (10.7%) and a little less for places like Alabama (8.7%).

When people look at total tax burden, they tend to forget that the vast majority of it is federal income tax which you cannot escape unless you leave the country. The difference in total taxes paid, federal and all state, on a top wageearner in Minnesota vs. Texas is nominal (47.2% vs. 45.9%). Yes, there is a difference, but the local piece of that is just pretty small, simply put.

[judogl44]

Fed taxes do not bother us-but state taxes are abhorrent. We moved from the high tax capital of the country-NJ-and rarely paid state taxes, and if we did they were minimal. Our state tax return put us in shock-MN is not tax friendly. What we save in prop. tax compared to NJ is way lost in what we pay in state inc tax.

[golfgal]

We have lived in so called 'low tax' states and we have lived in MN, you get what you pay for. Yes, taxes in MN are high but we also have excellent schools, good roads (yes, they are good compared to many areas of the country), good services, etc. We lived in South Dakota (no income tax state) and were there for maybe a week when we figured out that they just don't have the things that MN has for kids/families, etc. You get what you pay for.

[ddldave]

i used to live in eden prarie when i was a kid. a very very nice neighborhood. now i live in apple valley, nice neighborhood too but i think eden prarie was better.