Just for fun...when CA. finally taxes you out, where will you go? Why? (Orange: live, vs)

[Shooting Stars]

Originally Posted by expatCA

I love the beach and wish I lived there but I don't. However from Riverside County it is such a hassle to go that the trips have been fewer and fewer. I think I would prefer green and beautiful to brown and dry like Riverside County is.

From Tennessee, you can go to Destin, Florida beaches if you need a beach fix. You won't be sorry.

[.highnlite]

Originally Posted by Shooting Stars

From Tennessee, you can go to Destin, Florida beaches if you need a beach fix. You won't be sorry.

503 miles, 9 hours drive, from Knoxville

486, 9 hours drive from Memphis

[370z]

Originally Posted by OGTSO

I struggled with the same questions you are pondering. Your home is usually your biggest cost of living expense therefore if you can get a home for a lower price your cost of living should be lower. I agree with your statement about the other costs being similar and in some cases even more. It is a hard decision to make and as I have said in this thread before the cost of living should not be the only reason you choose to move. I also would not move without a job/income lined up. Good luck to you. Let me know if you have any other questions and I will try to help the best I can with my experiences having moved out of Orange, California to Spokane, Washington in 2010.

Are you happy that you made the move to WA? It's expensive to move & you can't just turn around & go back. That's why I want to be very sure! I left CA 22 years ago and moved to Las Vegas, then made the BIG mistake of coming back to CA for family.

[OGTSO]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

While individual circumstances vary some, the average burden has been published for each state ... here's where you can study the criteria for the figures:
State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977 - 2009 | Tax Foundation
The Tax Foundation is a very well known and respected source for research on the subject of taxes. I do trust their analysis. California is ranked high at #6 in the nation ... Alaska is ranked lowest. California's burden is 10.6% ... Alaska's is 6.3% ... 4.3% difference. Most differences run closer to the couple percent level at best.

I stick by my opinion that anyone who uproots themselves and pays the costs and goes through the many changes to move (new employment included) to save a couple percent -- or even 4.3% -- on taxes is living a sadly unfulfilled and misdirected existence that such a minor level of savings trumps quality of life.

That said, if other issues of personal preference are strongly present, then a bit of tax savings can be considered a bonus. But a prime motivation? Nuts. A clear example of confusing money with life.

Are you claiming that post #2 to this thread should have been your post above and then the moderator should have closed the thread? You are reading into people's posts that taxes are the prime motivator. Then you call them nuts if they even mention the tax differences they experienced. That is disruptive to the discussion. I am surprised that you can't understand how this argument of yours would make any poster on this thread defensive.

Originally Posted by NewToCA

No...it could be that their personal situation is somewhat dictated by taxes. For example, quite a few states either have no income tax or have an exemption for retirement income, however in California it is quite easy to hit the upper income tax brackets with fairly moderate income. An individual with $48,942 in income hits the 9.3% tax bracket, and pays that rate on every single dollar above that income level. When comparing the impact to a state without that tax, including high tax states like PA, MA and NY, CA looks kind of high, significantly so. Add in the high real estate taxes linked to relatively high property values, and it makes the difference even more significant.

So no, I don't think a critical analysis would necessarily show that folks believing CA to be a high tax state are ill informed on the issue.

Thank You, NewToCA. This is a great response and underscores all I have posted in this thread from the beginning.

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Ah, yeah ... I got that part (about recognizing in bold what I had written) ... what is not clear is what you are trying to say about it all ... The one part I think I understand is that you are still claiming that I accused you of moving only to save on taxes ... as I wrote before: go back and read carefully ... I made a generic general statement ... aimed at anybody who might consider moving for tax reasons ... YOU were not identified in my statement, individually ... if you feel defensive, that is your interpretation, not what I wrote.

Other than that, you mumble something about my income being tax-free ... so what? Do you mean you think I therefore haven't been subject to taxation? Perhaps thus don't understand the situation? Uh, I paid taxes like you and everybody else for 35 years. In California and Washington (and other places before, during, and after). You don't know what my exemption is for either, I assume ... I do not pay taxes on veteran's disability compensation ... because compensation for damages is not considered earnings income ... I refused my compensation package and worked instead after I was creamed several times in service in Vietnam and permanently disabled in several respects -- but went on with life pretty much like anyone else until my wife died and left me with a houseful of kids to finish raising alone ... at which point I decided to retire early on the compensation (little as it is) and focus on family. Get it now? During all those 35 years I earned and paid taxes like anyone else. I also had employees in my companies for many of those years and paid taxes and benefits for them.

As for paying real estate taxes on my properties, I was only recently given a tax break on one property because of qualifying for the state's disabled veteran's rate ... and that only on one of my properties. The other properties carry the same taxation as everyone else. However, I also no longer pay income tax on rental revenues because I give away half my rentals to persons in need during these hard economic times -- thus my income is less than my expenses. Why do I do this? Because I can. I live minimally and am happy with my little compensation check from Uncle Sam. I am not a materialistic person.

I don't understand any other of your points, if you are making any.

Thank you for your service to our country and I appreciate that all of the freedoms I enjoy today are due in part to your service and/or injuries for this country.

I did not ask you for your personal story or taxation history. I was pointing out that you claimed to be exempt from income taxation. Therefore, your situation is different from mine because I am not exempt from income taxation.

I too have a personal story regarding why I moved. I alluded to it in earlier posts and even tempered my original post with this fact. I do not want to share my personal life story because it is personal. I also know that if I shared my personal story it would just end up as more fuel for some posters to be disruptive on this thread.
I first joined this forum after having read this forum for about a year prior to my move. In an attempt to give back, I have posted on this forum to share my experience with moving from Orange, California to Spokane, Washington in 2010. I have provided my opinions about that move to help any other people on this forum who are considering a similar move.

I know that if I had provided all of my financial records on this thread to back up my claims in my original post, some posters would continue to be disruptive and argue for the sake of being disruptive.

Having other posters say: the Tax Foundation says this_______ therefore, you are wrong and everything you say is flawed, does not help and is disruptive.

If, those same posters were to say the Tax foundation says this_____ and drops the: therefore, you are wrong and everything you say is flawed, then that would have been different and less disruptive to the discussion.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Shooting Stars

From Tennessee, you can go to Destin, Florida beaches if you need a beach fix. You won't be sorry.

I have been there and friends who live near Knoxville go every year. Beautiful beaches.

[OGTSO]

Originally Posted by 370z

Are you happy that you made the move to WA? It's expensive to move & you can't just turn around & go back. That's why I want to be very sure! I left CA 22 years ago and moved to Las Vegas, then made the BIG mistake of coming back to CA for family.

The jury is still out on that question. I am happy I moved here, but the other half of the equation(my wife) is having a harder time adapting. She has a larger family and stronger connections to her family. The move has been more difficult for her than me. I love my wife and have offered to go back if she can't take it here, but she has asked me to just give her more time to adjust. I am willing to take the hit in the wallet to move back to keep her happy. To this point she has not asked. It is one thing to say," I could move to_____" , but it is another thing to actually make the move. We discussed the anticipated ramifications prior to making the move, but not all ramifications can be anticipated. The need to be near family is sometimes hard to gauge until you are away from family.

[Shooting Stars]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

503 miles, 9 hours drive, from Knoxville

486, 9 hours drive from Memphis

Give it a rest. I told someone where to go for some fabulous beaches as a friendly gesture.

I'm sure they own a map.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by OGTSO

... I was pointing out that you claimed to be exempt from income taxation. Therefore, your situation is different from mine because I am not exempt from income taxation....

MOD CUT ... My situation has not been any different from yours until recent years. That is why I explained what I did ... I assume you are significantly younger than I am ... and I am going to guess that my earning and paying taxes for 35 years is a longer history than yours at this point.

Now you have babbled defensively with me and several other posters at length ... knock yourself out with more if you wish. You clearly don't have a grasp of the realities ... especially when you try to use Spokane as a comparable for OC.

[OGTSO]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

MOD CUT ... My situation has not been any different from yours until recent years. That is why I explained what I did ... I assume you are significantly younger than I am ... and I am going to guess that my earning and paying taxes for 35 years is a longer history than yours at this point.

Now you have babbled defensively with me and several other posters at length ... knock yourself out with more if you wish. You clearly don't have a grasp of the realities ... especially when you try to use Spokane as a comparable for OC.

Talk about missing the point. This has nothing to do with Spokane vs Orange County, or if YOU feel that is a comparable comparison, whatever that means. It is about opinions on the differences between cities and questions from people who are considering moving.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

An individual with $48,942 in income hits the 9.3% tax bracket, and pays that rate on every single dollar above that income level.

An individual with a taxable income of $48,942 hits the 9.3% tax bracket, their actual income could be considerably more. California also has credits which will offset the taxes, so you have to look at the overall tax rate in relation to income not the brackets.