Since there is no State income tax.. (Olympia: house, buying)

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by JDTD

They tax taxes in this state. I can seriously say that it's gotten really expensive to live here. They seem to get you one way or another. I think I was actually doing better here financially 5 years ago when I was making about 20,000 less. I really don't have any "extra" bills either (no "toys", etc.). That's my 2 cents which is probably only worth 1 after taxes.

Well compare it to Texas where I am moving and the property tax is nearly three times the rate in Washington and sales tax is the same. Of course California is worse.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Well compare it to Texas where I am moving and the property tax is nearly three times the rate in Washington and sales tax is the same. Of course California is worse.

I tend to find California Property Tax to be a lessor burden than Washington Property Tax.

The tax rate is about the same in many areas of CA as WA... the main difference is the amount of tax PAID is limited to 2% yearly increases in CA vs. WA official 6%...

The problem in WA is that the Assessment can be increased to what ever the Assessor deems Market Price... in my case, my Assessment increased 80% this year over last... food for thought...

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Well compare it to Texas where I am moving and the property tax is nearly three times the rate in Washington and sales tax is the same. Of course California is worse.

...and you will also find that Texas electricity costs twice as much (with a few exceptions) and you will use three times as much (fewer exceptions). And property insurance is about twice as much.

I moved from Texas to Washington and even though property prices are 40% higher here my total cost of housing has not changed much.

[jwb123]

...and you will also find that Texas electricity costs twice as much (with a few exceptions) and you will use three times as much (fewer exceptions).

I don't find this to be true at all - except for in the hottest summer months of July and August. The rest (other utilities, and the other months of the year) were comparable, or cheaper.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Well compare it to Texas where I am moving and the property tax is nearly three times the rate in Washington and sales tax is the same. Of course California is worse.

Yeah...but your house payment will be about half (or less) of the assessed value of what it is up here. You're still going to come out waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy ahead unless you go crazy with your house or take a huge decrease in pay.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by cdelena

...and you will also find that Texas electricity costs twice as much (with a few exceptions) and you will use three times as much (fewer exceptions). And property insurance is about twice as much.

I moved from Texas to Washington and even though property prices are 40% higher here my total cost of housing has not changed much.

The only place I can find in Texas that is more expensive for utilities is the Austin area. It's like a few percent higher (not double, etc.). I looked on CNN Money, cost of living comparison. DFW area (Arlington) is listed at 7 percent cheaper actually. Of course, I didn't go through them all.

I wonder if your house is near the size it was down there (to heat and cool). If it is similar in size, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars did you pay extra for the house up here? Since you are from there, you know what you can buy for 500,000. Here, this is about our average. There...we could buy what we would consider a mansion (with a pool, acreage and on a golf course to boot). And then you would have to heat and cool it. I guess it's what your definition of apples to apples is.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by JDTD

The only place I can find in Texas that is more expensive for utilities is the Austin area. It's like a few percent higher (not double, etc.). I looked on CNN Money, cost of living comparison. DFW area (Arlington) is listed at 7 percent cheaper actually. Of course, I didn't go through them all.

I wonder if your house is near the size it was down there (to heat and cool). If it is similar in size, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars did you pay extra for the house up here? Since you are from there, you know what you can buy for 500,000. Here, this is about our average. There...we could buy what we would consider a mansion (with a pool, acreage and on a golf course to boot). And then you would have to heat and cool it. I guess it's what your definition of apples to apples is.

I paid 13 - 16 cents per Kwh in Dallas and I pay 7 cents here. The AC generally was on seven months a year day and night where here we use it maybe half the days for two months and seldom at night. I won't go through the work to figure Kwh per sq/ft comparison.

Like I said, I know I paid 30% more for a home here than what I could get one for in Texas but that is simply the market… you get it back on a sale.

CNN Money has never been close to estimating my expenses, but maybe they are better for your purposes.

There are plenty of good things in Texas and plenty that is not. I am not arguing your choice or mine; just pointing out there is more to look for total housing costs.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by janb

Gas tax is high, but not exorbitant compared to some states

Washingtons gas tax is the second highest in the nation. At $0.36 / gallon it seems pretty exorbitant to me and it's far from ended, we still haven't gotten all of the increases from the last bill Olympia passed to raise gas taxes.

It's not high compared to Europe but it's high compared to just about everywhere else in the US.

[scirocco22]

Here's the state-by-state list or total gas taxes* from the American Petroleum Institute:

Total gas taxes by state from the American Petroleum Institute -- July 2007 (broken link)

*total is both federal and state excise taxes plus other added taxes. That's why the figure for Washington will be slightly higher than Haakon reported.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by cdelena

I paid 13 - 16 cents per Kwh in Dallas and I pay 7 cents here. The AC generally was on seven months a year day and night where here we use it maybe half the days for two months and seldom at night. I won't go through the work to figure Kwh per sq/ft comparison.

Like I said, I know I paid 30% more for a home here than what I could get one for in Texas but that is simply the market… you get it back on a sale.

CNN Money has never been close to estimating my expenses, but maybe they are better for your purposes.

There are plenty of good things in Texas and plenty that is not. I am not arguing your choice or mine; just pointing out there is more to look for total housing costs.

So...If I drive in stop and go traffic all the time, gas is more expensive where I live than it is for someone who only drives highway miles? No...It's still the same price, but I get less MPG because I drive different (just like KWh is going to be higher if your AC kicks on all the time due to the heat). You're talking a cost of living issue for the region and not what our PUD (or whatever) actually charges as a rate. I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, however (?). I would consider that if I moved there, but I would also consider the fact that my house payment would be about 2,000 a month cheaper. That's all I'm sayin'.


p.s. I'm from WA (not TX), so it has nothing to do with arguing "your choice or mine". I was looking at a statistic by a reputable "company". Last I heard CNN was still reputable.