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No, my Boston condo is nice enough, and I am a city type so not sure what I could be doing for longer blocks of time in Maine :-). It's all about travel, and SF is (was?) just another anchor for travels away from home on the other side of the country. Library sales of used books in SF used to be excellent too (the origin of the 40 boxes of books over 15 years :-), but even that has dried up and is now actually better in Boston.
If I sell SF, and decide to take my chance again with a secondary travel anchor in the US, it would be a desert city. If things go badly with California tax vote in Nov 2024, I'll have to redraw my mental map of the US to simply delete the West Coast. I'm alternatively thinking about Bangkok - the only downside of it is that Asia is so darn FAR... it takes forever to get there, which is really inconvenient if one wants to go back and forth throughout the year.
Welp, if all SF represented was an airport on the West Coast I doubt it would be emotional.
Welp, if all SF represented was an airport on the West Coast I doubt it would be emotional.
Of course it is not just the airport :-). An "anchor" has a far more meaningful meaning than an airport. Though the airport surely facilitates anchoring. I know, impossible to understand if one doesn't habitually cross and re-cross the continent.
It has been years since I have done it, but it was substantially less expensive when I did use it.
Thanks, I know all about that, but the risk of having books lost in mail is too big. People have told me that postal employees don't want to bother with a big caravan of heavy boxes of low value, and simply toss them into
dumpster at some point during transit.
We are getting a bit far from Social Security: Does Your State Tax It? If not, what State do you live in?
This seems to have degenerated into organizing elnrgby's life, book and condo situation... Seems to me she is rather organized and knows exactly what she is doing and not doing.
Massachusetts. No tax on Social Security. 5% flat tax on all other income. More importantly, Proposition 2 1/2 limits property tax increases. My house has tripled in value since I bought it in 2009 but the property taxes normally don’t go up by more than 2 1/2%. The mill rate is $8.78 per thousand valuation and the town tends to assess at around 70% of market value.
Our Social Security income projects to be around $93k. I’m delaying to age 70. We generally plan on that being our cash flow. Tax deferred stuff is for emergencies and to fund long term care.
We are getting a bit far from Social Security: Does Your State Tax It? If not, what State do you live in?
This seems to have degenerated into organizing elnrgby's life, book and condo situation... Seems to me she is rather organized and knows exactly what she is doing and not doing.
Well, the issue is the new tax in San Francisco on second homes with Elnrgby. So, it's still a tax related where you going to live topic. Apparently, California wants to tax second homes to pay for the homeless. In some ways taxing people with extra houses makes some sense; but, it's a major change.
We are getting a bit far from Social Security: Does Your State Tax It? If not, what State do you live in?
This seems to have degenerated into organizing elnrgby's life, book and condo situation... Seems to me she is rather organized and knows exactly what she is doing and not doing.
Thanks, yes I actually do know - all my options for SF look bad right now, but I do know which ones are a little less bad than the others :-). Just venting my dismay - but at least 50% of my problem is actually the looming enormous, and I do mean ENORMOUS, property tax increase on my type of property which has already been approved, but could still be retrogradely abolished in Nov 2024. Which illustrates that state/local taxes are in flux, and one does not just need to ask whether a certain state taxes soc security (or whatever other income or asset), but also what else that state/locality taxes AND may tax in the future.
Thanks, yes I actually do know - all my options for SF look bad right now, but I do know which ones are a little less bad than the others :-). Just venting my dismay - but at least 50% of my problem is actually the looming enormous, and I do mean ENORMOUS, property tax increase on my type of property which has already been approved, but could still be retrogradely abolished in Nov 2024. Which illustrates that state/local taxes are in flux, and one does not just need to ask whether a certain state taxes soc security (or whatever other income or asset), but also what else that state/locality taxes AND may tax in the future.
I agree that one needs to look at the overall tax burden. And, a simple web search is only a starting point. It depends upon one's personal situation. Social Security might or might not make a significant portion of a retirement income. We are likely heading to a no income tax state but with high property taxes and a very creative capital gains tax disguised as excise tax that should be unconstitutional but isn't.
Well, the issue is the new tax in San Francisco on second homes with Elnrgby. So, it's still a tax related where you going to live topic. Apparently, California wants to tax second homes to pay for the homeless. In some ways taxing people with extra houses makes some sense; but, it's a major change.
No, not entire California. Maybe Modesto or Stockton would beg people to buy a second home there, but I doubt there is much interest :-). Two cities in CA have passed a "vacant homes tax" - Oakland which taxes very moderately only truly vacant homes (ie, those occupied for less than 50 days per year), and San Francisco which wants to tax very severely any home occupied less than 183 days per year (meaning all second homes, since 183 days' occupancy is the major definition of primary home/domicile pretty much everywhere).
So, this is not at the level of the state, but only at the level of the city/county - however, this tax in SF can be stopped at the level of the state, by a change in California state constitution which will be put up for vote in Nov 2024 (I think it is too late for Oakland, but their vacancy tax is not that bad - ie, not very high, and can be avoided with less than 7 weeks of occupancy per year).
Massachusetts. No tax on Social Security. 5% flat tax on all other income. More importantly, Proposition 2 1/2 limits property tax increases. My house has tripled in value since I bought it in 2009 but the property taxes normally don’t go up by more than 2 1/2%. The mill rate is $8.78 per thousand valuation and the town tends to assess at around 70% of market value.
Our Social Security income projects to be around $93k. I’m delaying to age 70. We generally plan on that being our cash flow. Tax deferred stuff is for emergencies and to fund long term care.
Yes. My domicile is in Boston, for the tax reasons you described, and for many other reasons. Perfect balance of a reasonably well managed state/city with reasonably moderate (ie, flat 5%) taxation. Ok, not entirely flat - they just enacted additional 1% tax on income over $1M (btw, I voted against that even though it is unlikely to ever affect me, even if I sell my primary home condo eventually), but even with this addition, it is still less than 1/2 of the CA tax on high earners. And Boston is safe and comfortable - no hint of danger and squalor of the West Coast cities. In Boston I am literally paying less than 40% of what I pay in SF in property taxes (and about 50% of what I pay in SF in HOA fees) for a somewhat bigger and better located condo in incomparably safer surroundings than in SF.
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