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Awesome article in Democrat and Chronicle. This is the reason I moved from high tax NYS to low tax Florida with no STATE Income Tax as well. Look at Sloan in Buffalo.
I live in near Rochester, on Lake Ontario. Through social media many of my neighbors are reporting $40-50,000 increase in assessments. One even noted a $145,000 increase! To add insult to injury, they decided to flood us out again for the second time in 3 years.
Awesome article in Democrat and Chronicle. This is the reason I moved from high tax NYS to low tax Florida with no STATE Income Tax as well. Look at Sloan in Buffalo.
I’m not surprised by Sloan or select villages, as they can have a village layer of services that they have to pay for versus those in most towns and cities.
A lot of comparisons have to look at other factors. This is looking at property taxes in relation to home price. While FL doesn’t state income tax, average annual pay is lower in many cases there than in NY, including Upstate areas. Just so people don’t think I’m making that up, this is the source for what I’m referring to: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm
To bring it back to this, property tax rates are higher, but for much of Upstate NY in relation to the national median home price and in comparison to even many parts of the South, median home prices are actually lower: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and...-affordability This in turn is why property tax rates are high.
So, while I don’t think the article should be minimized or that people shouldn’t be able to move to wherever they want from the state, but I think there needs to be a more comprehensive comparison that includes other factors as well.
I also agree with more consolidation of services across the state, in order to bring taxes down too. Same in regards to dissolution(think of former villages like Seneca Falls and Lyons in recent years).
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 05-04-2019 at 04:46 PM..
I'm also in the camp of move if you want to, but no place is paradise. A very close friend of mine moved from Clifton Park, (near Albany) to the Charlotte suburbs. Of course this is anecdotal but he hates it there. Initially, he bragged to me about how much I need to move down there, mostly to save on taxes, but now he thinks he made a huge mistake and would rather pay the taxes. For example, he moved from a neighborhood like this: https://goo.gl/maps/1YH66JmxKnnFPUDX6 (not the exact house, obviously) to this general area: https://goo.gl/maps/GmsQ4iFNHme8CBgY6
The house is nice and its pretty new, but 6 months after moving in, they put high tension power lines behind his house. He can hear the buzzing from them and there's no zoning there, and he's worried about his health. He has no friends there, and said that people aren't all that friendly. New Yorkers are gruff but real. He meets fake, flakey people all day he tells me. The heat is brutal in the summer and winters are still cold and ice-covered roads, which is more dangerous. He said he fell on ice more down there than in Upstate. There's a few things he likes but overall, he misses the quaint towns, quick drive into VT, and the generally non cookie cutter aspect of NY. Again, this is anecdotal and I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. I have no horse in this race!
Everyone's different and no doubt FL and NC are paradise for some people. It depends on who you are and what you value. I wanted to move to NYS but the taxes were too high where I needed to be, and I totally get that. But there are some tradeoffs too. I'm learning more and more, that no place is perfect and many places that are cheap and have low taxes, leave a lot to be desired.
I agree the taxes do suck no matter what way you spin it. However, VintageSunlight hit the nail on the head when he said, "I'm learning more and more, that no place is perfect and many places that are cheap and have low taxes, leave a lot to be desired."
I was born and raised in GA and have close friends and family that live in GA, SC, NC, and TX. And while the overall tax burden is less in those state they are FAR from paradise. In addition, the taxes and COL are slowly raising in these states as more people flood in.
I agree the taxes do suck no matter what way you spin it. However, VintageSunlight hit the nail on the head when he said, "I'm learning more and more, that no place is perfect and many places that are cheap and have low taxes, leave a lot to be desired."
I was born and raised in GA and have close friends and family that live in GA, SC, NC, and TX. And while the overall tax burden is less in those state they are FAR from paradise. In addition, the taxes and COL are slowly raising in these states as more people flood in.
“The proposed increase would mean the owner of a $250,000 home would pay an extra $159 a year in county property taxes.”
I think the average NYS taxpayer would love to keep to a $159 increase. The 2% cap is better than the past but in absolute numbers it still creeps upward every year.
I moved from NY to GA and my tax burden is lower, COL is lower, QOL is higher and my kids are in great schools. While nothing is perfect it’s pretty close here.
“The proposed increase would mean the owner of a $250,000 home would pay an extra $159 a year in county property taxes.”
I think the average NYS taxpayer would love to keep to a $159 increase. The 2% cap is better than the past but in absolute numbers it still creeps upward every year.
I moved from NY to GA and my tax burden is lower, COL is lower, QOL is higher and my kids are in great schools. While nothing is perfect it’s pretty close here.
I agree, but I think it depends where you move from in NYS to where you move TO in Georgia. Moving to a nice suburb of Atlanta like Sandy Springs is going to be a positive move if your coming from the Bronx. But I'd take a nice suburb of Rochester over that area where Honey Boo Boo was from all day long
“The proposed increase would mean the owner of a $250,000 home would pay an extra $159 a year in county property taxes.”
I think the average NYS taxpayer would love to keep to a $159 increase. The 2% cap is better than the past but in absolute numbers it still creeps upward every year.
I moved from NY to GA and my tax burden is lower, COL is lower, QOL is higher and my kids are in great schools. While nothing is perfect it’s pretty close here.
What part of GA if you don't mind me asking? I don't doubt the tax burden is lower but from my experience even the best public schools in GA are average at best compared to most NY school. QOL is subjective as there are both very poor and very good aspects of each state. Also, IMO aside from NYC/LI area the COL isn't that much of a difference between a lot of parts of NYS and GA.
The house I just bought in NY (Rochester area) was actually cheaper that what my brother paid for an almost identical house in the North Atlanta metro area. Sure my taxes are more but I still come out ahead. Plus comparing the 2 towns we live in my village provides much more services that are not offered in GA. Plus I love the village I'm in compared to a sprawling cookie cutter burb that are very common in the south.
Don't get me wrong, NYS is FAR from perfect, and I will always have a soft spot for GA. But I honesty don't think the gap is that big between NYS and the other southern states people are flocking to that many make out to be paradise. That being said, If I had my choice I would move to Florida, but that's a whole other story.
The gap in COL in a lot of areas in the South has closed. I bought a house in the Lehigh Valley of PA for less than a comparable house in Raleigh, NC would have cost me. My property taxes are more but I also make more than I would have down there. In fact, a comparable job in Raleigh to mine in NJ would pay on average $20k less than here, but my COL is only about $3k more here in property taxes. And the house costs about the same or less here ($250k).
My car, my cable, internet, cell phone all cost the same in both places. Here, I have access to NYC in 1.5 hours, and Philly in about the same or less. I have access to mountains/lakes in 1 hour. Raleigh would have been 3+ hours. The ocean beaches are 1.5 hours away as well. Raleigh they are 3 hours and even further from Atlanta or Charlotte. I'm even noticing traffic easing up here, as people now telecommute, or moved away, and millenials hate to drive it seems, unlike us Gen Xers
Like I said before, I have no dog in this fight. I see the merits and drawbacks of both areas, frankly. I have my gripes with this area too. I think the ship has sailed on cheap Southern houses though, IMO. 15 years ago was the time to make that move. And many did, and they are reaping those benefits, when I remember houses in the Triangle, Charlotte, and Atlanta around $150k for a nice new house. Not anymore. $300k + for something new, and decent. Meanwhile, homes here, outside NYC/LI/Westchester, have leveled off.
The new areas to move now I think are places like Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Omaha. Cheap like the South was 15 years ago. IMO
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