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Funny. I retired from San Diego to Western North Carolina.
How long has it been since you were in SD? I moved out last year. Traffic has gotten worse year over year. Too many cars and not enough east/west freeways.
Not sure about your question. Sounds like you're asking if you can pay taxes on a San Diego principal residence in another state?
Taxes are pretty high, but states like Ohio, New York and New Jersey have tax structures that are about the same as California.
Income taxes will be a factor in reducing your income, just a fact of life in living out here.
If you try to claim to be a part time resident, good luck with the auditors. The year I moved out here from Ohio I filed a "partial year resident" return, and the subseqent audit of my return has forced me to produce a ton of old documentation as to where I was when (over 20 hours of research...so far).
That's true enough, one high tax state is about as bad as the next one - at least CA has good weather, compared to the other 3 that IMHO have about nothing going for them.
But there are places like Eastern WA, that is not grey and dreary all year (just part of the winter), there is Texas with no state income tax and if you can't find a part of TX that you like, you are either hard to please or not really looking. Even in the Northeast, you have NH, Maine, and to some extent Delaware that are financially friendly. Las Vegas is hot in the summer, no two ways about that, but it's a dry warm climate not too far from parts of CA, and it's dollar-friendly. In the Midwest Iowa is not bad on the pocketbook, or was not about 20 years ago, although, you can have that hot humid summer and cold snowy winter. But for the fan of "4 seasons", yeah, you get them there.
That's true enough, one high tax state is about as bad as the next one - at least CA has good weather, compared to the other 3 that IMHO have about nothing going for them.
But there are places like Eastern WA, that is not grey and dreary all year (just part of the winter), there is Texas with no state income tax and if you can't find a part of TX that you like, you are either hard to please or not really looking. Even in the Northeast, you have NH, Maine, and to some extent Delaware that are financially friendly. Las Vegas is hot in the summer, no two ways about that, but it's a dry warm climate not too far from parts of CA, and it's dollar-friendly. In the Midwest Iowa is not bad on the pocketbook, or was not about 20 years ago, although, you can have that hot humid summer and cold snowy winter. But for the fan of "4 seasons", yeah, you get them there.
CA is just too damn tax-hungry for my tastes.
What a nice, rational, well-balanced post. Glad to see discussion which is both intelligent and pleasant. I respect your conclusion in your final sentence especially because it is not part of any California bashing, and because you recognize that some other states are just about as bad.
Agree about Texas, a very large state. The climates of east and west Texas are so different they might as well be different countries. As for the lack of income tax there, isn't it partly off-set by rather high property taxes in most places?
I am, of course, jumping into this quite late. I am not retired, although planning on retiring in 2-4 yrs. I live in California and have lived here, being born here, my entire life. I live and work in the SF Bay area. I am NOT, however, a California supporter. I have many reasons for that, including its total liberal lifestyle (for most of the state) and, the biggest reason? The high tax costs and the high costs of living.
Retiring in California is, of course possible. However, what alot of people don't realize is this: If you want the "perfect" weather in California, unless you can live in the Southern California area of the beaches, the "perfect" weather isn't to be found here. California is basically one huge desert and it gets VERY HOT here, in most places. I live in Dublin, CA and in the summer time, its routinely 90-110 degrees and 115 isn't unheard of. In the mountains, in winter time, it snows and snows quite heavily. Truckee in winter is below zero, at night, quite often.
Now, the state income tax rate is VERY HIGH. Sales tax rates in some counties are pushing 10%. And what people from other states do not realize, is the fact, this sales tax is on ALL purchased items: Gas, food, your cellphone, etc. There is no exclusion for sales tax. Now, take into account in California, wages are generally higher for public and private employees. These added costs are passed on to the consumer (you). Right now, I paid $4.89 a gallon for gas. I guarantee gas isn't that expensive in DC.
My point to all this is simple: Its not that housing is so expensive in California; IT IS. Especially someplace nice. However, if you can overcome that, you have the added COSTS of EVERYTHING else. PG&E (power/gas) is outrageous. When I had my three children living with me, my monthly power bill was $500+. Cable? I pay $220 for the "bundle" with Comcast; that is per month. ALL costs, I have found, are generally higher in California then other states. Which, in my opinion, makes things just a tad bit more impossible to retire here and/or live here, for your average person.
Now, the state income tax rate is VERY HIGH. Sales tax rates in some counties are pushing 10%. And what people from other states do not realize, is the fact, this sales taxis on ALL purchased items: Gas, food, your cellphone, etc.There is no exclusion for sales tax. Now, take into account in California, wages are generally higher for public and private employees. These added costs are passed on to the consumer (you). Right now, I paid $4.89 a gallon for gas. I guarantee gas isn't that expensive in DC.
I can't believe you live in California and you don't realize that food is exempt from sales taxes here. Next time you buy food at the grocery store or supermarket, take a careful look at your receipt. There will be sales taxes on non-food items such as toothpaste, paper towels, light bulbs, sandwich bags, and the like, but not on food! Or try this experiment: Don't buy any non-food items and note that no sales tax is charged. Now restaurant meals do incur sales tax, but not grocery store food.
I can believe that you just paid $4.89 for gas. But in your zeal to make your one-sided point, you forgot to mention that gas prices spiked tremendously in California a few days ago as the result of refinery and pipeline problems. For about a month before that, gas prices had remained quite stable at just a hair over $4.00 per gallon. According to the Los Angeles Times, we should expect gas prices to come back down shortly.
Back to the sales tax. There is no sales tax on gasoline in California. There is, however, a state tax on gasoline (different from sales tax) which is a fixed number of cents per gallon. That means that if you normally buy, say, 15 gallons of gas to fill your tank, the amount of state tax remains that number of cents times 15 gallons regardless of the price per gallon. In other words, if gas prices go up, the amount of state tax you pay for gasoline does not go up unless you start driving more and using more gallons. That would not be the case if there were a sales tax on gasoline.
Posters beware: people who live in a state do not ipso facto know what they are talking about.
I can't believe you live in California and you don't realize that food is exempt from sales taxes here. Next time you buy food at the grocery store or supermarket, take a careful look at your receipt. There will be sales taxes on non-food items such as toothpaste, paper towels, light bulbs, sandwich bags, and the like, but not on food! Or try this experiment: Don't buy any non-food items and note that no sales tax is charged. Now restaurant meals do incur sales tax, but not grocery store food.
I can believe that you just paid $4.89 for gas. But in your zeal to make your one-sided point, you forgot to mention that gas prices spiked tremendously in California a few days ago as the result of refinery and pipeline problems. For about a month before that, gas prices had remained quite stable at just a hair over $4.00 per gallon. According to the Los Angeles Times, we should expect gas prices to come back down shortly.
Back to the sales tax. There is no sales tax on gasoline in California. There is, however, a state tax on gasoline (different from sales tax) which is a fixed number of cents per gallon. That means that if you normally buy, say, 15 gallons of gas to fill your tank, the amount of state tax remains that number of cents times 15 gallons regardless of the price per gallon. In other words, if gas prices go up, the amount of state tax you pay for gasoline does not go up unless you start driving more and using more gallons. That would not be the case if there were a sales tax on gasoline.
Posters beware: people who live in a state do not ipso facto know what they are talking about.
Obviously not because I don't care how you cut it or slice it, California is freaking expensive!
o
Obviously not because I don't care how you cut it or slice it, California is freaking expensive!
o
Yes, it is "freaking expensive", my friend. I was not making the argument that it isn't. I was correcting some specific mis-information posted by someone else - that is all. It shouldn't be necessary to overstate the case by claiming (as in that example which I corrected) that food is subject to sales taxes in Calif. The truth is bad enough without exaggerating it! Let's all strive for accuracy (as I know you do) when we get down to giving specific examples. If I have mis-stated something, I always appreciate the correction.
What a nice, rational, well-balanced post. Glad to see discussion which is both intelligent and pleasant. I respect your conclusion in your final sentence especially because it is not part of any California bashing, and because you recognize that some other states are just about as bad.
Agree about Texas, a very large state. The climates of east and west Texas are so different they might as well be different countries. As for the lack of income tax there, isn't it partly off-set by rather high property taxes in most places?
Well, I can add, that CA is too tax hungry for me, but for example Iowa has too hot a summer along with too cold and snowy a winter for me to consider living there (again) as well.
Texas does tend to have higher property taxes. This points out an important fact - that while some states do have a higher overall *average* tax burden, one has to look objectively at how *their particular* lifestyle choices would be taxed in a particular state (and indeed it varies by county in the state - my experience with property taxes is much less dire than some other people who live along the Columbia Gorge)
I think a lot of people bash CA simply because they would like to live there, but can't afford to. Sour grapes and all that. There is a lot of physical beauty there, several varieties of good weather, all sorts of cultural stuff. And In-N-Out burger shops all over. If you are a millionaire, it's hard to beat.
Or do what you did, and get there far enough back in the past that you can buy a place for a reasonable price...
Yes, it is "freaking expensive", my friend. I was not making the argument that it isn't. I was correcting some specific mis-information posted by someone else - that is all. It shouldn't be necessary to overstate the case by claiming (as in that example which I corrected) that food is subject to sales taxes in Calif. The truth is bad enough without exaggerating it! Let's all strive for accuracy (as I know you do) when we get down to giving specific examples. If I have mis-stated something, I always appreciate the correction.
I know that. You gave factual information and corrected another's mistake. It's those gas prices I have a hard time believing right now. I don't know how people who were already on the edge can manage. Even here are a lot less per gallon, were being really careful to bundle our shopping so we only go out perhaps once a week. Even then, any major shopping requires a roundtrip of that least 50 miles. That's the price we pay for the peace and quiet of our rural location.
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Whoa, Nellie! Misinformation here!
