California or Hawaii: Where would you retire? (Morro Bay, Bodega Bay: rent, home)

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

Overall state tax rate in
CA is 10.6% of your income
In HI it is 9.6% of your income.

In the socalled low tax states like
Texas it is 7.9 %
FL 9.2%
Miss 8.7%

It depends on your bracket. But HI has the excise tax in addition to the income tax, so you end up paying a lot more.

[.highnlite]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

It depends on your bracket. But HI has the excise tax in addition to the income tax, so you end up paying a lot more.

taxfoundation.org.

Here is the funny part, there are those on this very board that think they will gain some advantage from some "low tax" state.

On an income of $100,000 bucks a year the difference between a high tax state and a low tax state will be no more than roughly $5,000 per year, which, if I had to pay a fee of $5,000 in order to live in CA instead of Florida or Mississippi or Missouri I would gladly pay it.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

taxfoundation.org.

Here is the funny part, there are those on this very board that think they will gain some advantage from some "low tax" state.

On an income of $100,000 bucks a year the difference between a high tax state and a low tax state will be no more than roughly $5,000 per year, which, if I had to pay a fee of $5,000 in order to live in CA instead of Florida or Mississippi or Missouri I would gladly pay it.

Yes, though on an income under $40k it makes a huge difference.

[.highnlite]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

Yes, though on an income under $40k it makes a huge difference.

We moved from a so called "low tax state" to California.

Our tax rate went up 3 percent,

The difference in utility costs more than made up for the difference.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

We moved from a so called "low tax state" to California.

Our tax rate went up 3 percent,

The difference in utility costs more than made up for the difference.

That's a good point. Most people don't consider that.

What is the property tax like in California? In Texas it's about 3% for most areas. So if you own a typical $200k house, you pay $6000 in taxes per year. On a median income that's a more than 10% tax.

But in Hawaii, the property tax is almost nothing. I have a coworker who paid $120 last year.

[winkosmosis]

Maui County, HI - Official Website - Classification for Tax Rate Purposes

The homeowner tax rate is 0.25%.

[winkosmosis]

According to this, the maximum property tax in California is 1% Retirement Living - Taxes by Ste: Alabama - Iowa

[kadea36]

i would not retire in hawaii that for sure ... theres bugs , ALOT .. it rains too much! not a lot to offer ,,, very limited where u can go because u can only drive so far.. not a lot of good places to eat,,, trust me i eat asian food, and i happend to be filipino and majorty that lives in hawaii are asians like me , but i would NEVER EVER would want to retire here ... mainland has so much to offer a lot of places where u can go and explore and it is a never ending kind thing in mainland, if u move here diffrrent story buddy, its not to live in i think, its only good to visit , thats why were moving back to get the hell out of here in this island , yes its beautiful no doubt, but i want to be able to see more ...

[Mach50]

Fly over CA:

6 months in Maui
6 months in Breckenridge, CO

[jaypee]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

I'm pretty sure there's a tax on urinating in the ocean too.

Uh oh, I think I owe back taxes.