Just for fun...when CA. finally taxes you out, where will you go? Why? (salary, quality of life)

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by joycey1000

Final straw for me is the huge electric bill. I am sweltering in the heat and still pay $ 350 per month. I have switched to an evaporative cooler and it does work. Now they have a new tax in SB County besides your property taxes everybody has to pay 150 extra tax. It is not the $150, it is the fact that all cities are going bankrupt and I pay a huge amount of taxes. That being said I love the weather here. I love that there is so much to do, loads of restaurants, malls, beaches etc. But I am thinking of moving to Texas.

My biggest complaint is traffic and people.

It takes forever to go anywhere, it is crowded when you get there and the "beauty" is being spoiled by the simple volume of people. As a kid it was Sooooooo different. CA has just about everything you could want except an intelligent Government, a slow pace of life (it used to be) and room.

Too crowded to enjoy.

[scrantiX]

People thinking about leaving California, don't think, just leave.

More elbow room for me. For every one Californian that leaves there are 3 new ones to replace them. Just run along now, go find your nirvana, we don't need your negativity in California anymore.

[cre8lite]

myself & my husband were born & raised californians. the last straw was...we both had good jobs, making excellent $, but couldn't afford our 1st home (~2004). the amount of illegals was staggering, being able to go to the local market & NOT be cat called was rare; traffic was getting worse & the city layout/design was just bizarre.

with no friends & no family in our new state, we took the plunge! yea, my house isn't worth what i owe on it, but i still wouldn't move back to california. visit, yes. live, not a chance.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by cre8lite

with no friends & no family in our new state, we took the plunge! yea, my house isn't worth what i owe on it, but i still wouldn't move back to california. visit, yes. live, not a chance.

This, sadly, is what many Californians are seeing, feeling and doing. I hope it works out well for you.

[oldtrader]

Taxes are not the only reason that people are fleeing California.


Let's take two areas with a strong IT component. San Jose Ca, and Austin Tx. An electronics engineer earning $100,000 in San Jose would probably earn about $78,000 in Austin. On the other hand, their cost of living, at the same living standard would be only about $63,000 to equal the $100,000 in San Jose. That meant they would have at the two different salaries, $15,000 left over after spending what it takes to live on a $100,000 income level in San Jose. They can save it, or live at a higher living standard in Austin.

It is more than taxes, that is driving the upper middle class and upper class out of California. It is the high cost of living, in addition to taxes. This calculation includes everything including the fact that Texas has higher summer air conditioning costs, and areas differ in property taxes, etc.

The people like the idea, that in Texas they can afford a very nice home, while in San Jose the prices are almost prohibitive.

[Phil306]

The ONLY thing California has going for it is the "weather." Take that away from this god forsaken state, and it is nothing. Notta, zip, zilch. MANY places have beaches as good, if not better; yet, the weather keeps people away from them.

California is a sinking ship and will continue to sink. Its socialist values are causing its downfall and it shall continue, at an accelerated rate.

As to the original point? I'm one of those public employee's, everyone whines about. I am 48 yrs old and shall retire, at the latest at 52 (probably 51). I am moving to Colorado. Colorado Springs to be exact. The state has been listed as one of the top 10 states in the country to retire too. The first 20K of my retirement isn't taxed by the state. Sales tax is low and sales tax does not apply to food items. I'm not sure how other states do this, yet our miserable socialist state taxes us like no tomorrow.

Kalifornia is doomed to fail. It was and is, the ONLY state in the union, which was bailed out by a loan by the federal government. Yet, we continue down the socialist ladder to failure.

[blauskies]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Just moving to a no income tax State Like TX, TN, FL, WA, etc from CA, with a yearly $100,000 income will save almost $10,000 dollars.

That is IF you can even make $100K in those no income tax states, odd are you will take a pay cut moving to many which makes it all relative.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by blauskies

That is IF you can even make $100K in those no income tax states, odd are you will take a pay cut moving to many which makes it all relative.

Pay/money isn't everything when it comes to where you settle. Overall quality of life and contentment count greatly, or should.

[Social Democrat]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Pay/money isn't everything when it comes to where you settle. Overall quality of life and contentment count greatly, or should.

Bingo!

[EdJS]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Just moving to a no income tax State Like TX, TN, FL, WA, etc from CA, with a yearly $100,000 income will save almost $10,000 dollars.

Yeah, but here I make six figures as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, and there are plenty of jobs available if I want to switch. (In fact I just changed jobs earlier this year.) I just don't see the same opportunities available in Tennessee, for example.