Holy friggen taxation!!!

[awoogala]

well, as a perspective, here in Nj we don't pay a car tax. But my insurance is roughly $500 a year- and we're excellent drivers, with a used car, and no coverage for theft. Our property insurance, for a tiny cape cod from the 50's and a yard so small that about 10 neighbors can see into my house, is $6500 a year, and goes up by $1000 a year.
So

[awoogala]

we're hoping to move to va for relief on taxes! You guys seem to pay more on 'luxury" taxes, and sales taxes..and luckily, I have used cars and I don't shop!

[Upstate Dave]

Agreed... Taxes all tend to balance out in my opinion. Here in NYS, I pay greater city & county property taxes, city school taxes, state income & sales taxes..... and still have to pay to use the NYS Thruway (I-90). To balance that out my DMV fees are probably lower than yours as we don't have a pers. prop. tax on cars. And the fees for state campgrounds & parks seems to be a little lower. Regarding the property taxes here- our rates are higher but our property values are lower (Rochester NY) than most other regions.

I guess I can appreciate taxes for services I choose to use, like cars & boats, park fees, etc. Coming from a state where it is more acceptable to tax EVERYTHING "to make it fair".... I'm not sure your taxation issues are as bad. Not an indictment of your situation, just an observation.

Virginia is known as a much better state for economic freedom, and that includes taxes on people and businesses. New York.... not so much.

[Wi_Girl]

Yeah the car tax has to be the worst thing around here. And its always do in June and Decemeber. A nice way to screw everyone's summer vacation and Christmas.

[spark240]

Originally Posted by jmarkd

I personally don't believe there's such a correlation between spending and good schools,

I think good funding CAN make a difference in schools, but most affluent schools and many non-so-affluent ones, make poor decisions. The craze for computers, even in elementary schools, is an example. I'd rather see the money spent for first-class teachers (and small class sizes) so that the kids can be taught how to read, think, and write. They don't need a word processor if they can't compose a sentence, and they don't need the Internet if they can't read a book.

Oh, right, this is about taxes...
Don't buy property somewhere without researching all the applicable taxes and fees (and HOAs for that sort of community). If something catches you by surpirse after you move, whose fault is that?