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Roads in Texas and Florida are just as nice as in other states. The argument for fiscal conservatism, as noted in Kansas, isn't against all taxes or government

Roads in Texas and Florida are just as nice as in other states. The argument for fiscal conservatism, as noted in Kansas, isn't against all taxes or government spending - it's about using less money to provide certain services or not providing certain services. Moving from CA to TX as a highly paid person with no change in salary will result in a 13% direct increase in take-home pay. And my anecdotal experience is that I-35 is as well kept up as I-5 and toll-roads in Texas are more easily avoidable than those in Southern California.

toomuchtodo 11y ago
Texas provides almost no services to its citizens, unless you only need roads. I would not use them as a shining example: "Despite having the highest birth rate, Texas has the worst rate of women with health insurance, and the worst rate of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester, according to the report commissioned by the Legislative Study Group, a liberal-leaning research caucus in the Texas House. While Texas has the second-highest public school enrollment, the state ranks last in the percentage of people 25 and older with a high school diploma. And though Texas has the highest percent of its population without health insurance, the state is 49th in per capita spending on Medicaid, and dead last in per capita spending on mental health, according to the report. " http://web.archive.org/web/20150401050939/https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/14/texas-is-on-the-brink-legislative-study-group-says/ http://web.archive.org/web/20150401050939/https://www.texast... Disclaimer: My personal opinion is Texas is hell on Earth, Somalia if it had a southern flair. YMMV. (Except Austin)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- Artistry121 11y ago
  Those statistics are sobering. I'm not sure what current policy can do to change the amount of people over 25 with a high school diploma - but that could be because of many factors including high immigration from other states (Texas has had net inflows from almost every state for 5+ years) mostly on the bottom end of the scale. The insurance statistics are also sobering. But Texas has loads of opportunity and many programs for business development. It would also be easier to save up money to move to CA if you were in Texas than the other way around...
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    > But Texas has loads of opportunity and many programs for business development. I keep hearing "business development" thrown around, but it really sounds like "avoiding paying taxes". As Kansas has shown, it drives your state into the ground.
    - norea-armozel 11y ago
      And the businesses don't want to come to Kansas that's for sure. The biggest complaint from then largest employers in Wichita in regards to WSU was the lackluster education programs in engineering and computer science. Having been through their graduate and undergraduate programs I understand why companies refuse to setup in Kansas. Why the hell would you want to pay any tax and potentially deal with substandard employees?
e40 11y ago
CA roads are notoriously badly maintained, especially in places like the Bay Area, where local taxes are high. (Sales tax in many cities is around 10%.) It's all about priorities and how your tax $$ are used. Also, Prop 13 in CA has skewed things, and the fact that businesses are exempt from Prop 13. There's been a movement to fix that, but I doubt it will happen.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  Business are not exempt from prop 13; there are periodically moves to exempt commercial property from some parts of the prop 13 limits (usually not the rate limit, but the limit on tax value increases.)
  - e40 11y ago
    You're right. I don't know where I read that, but searches have proven you right. Thanks.
TheCoelacanth 11y ago
Income taxes aren't the only form of taxes. Property taxes are staggeringly high in Texas compared to California (though I would argue that California could stand to have higher property taxes since it would help to put a lid on the ridiculously high prices to buy property there). Property tax rates of 2-3% are common in Texas, while in California, the maximum tax rate is 1% plus a small amount to pay back voter approved bonds (SF currently has a total tax rate of 1.14%). Additionally, in Texas, the taxes are assessed against the full market value, while in California, the assessed value can't rise by more than 2% per year, resulting in many people paying tax on far less than the market value of their property.

toomuchtodo 11y ago

Texas provides almost no services to its citizens, unless you only need roads. I would not use them as a shining example: "Despite having the highest birth rate, Texas has the worst rate of women with health insurance, and the worst rate of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester, according to the report commissioned by the Legislative Study Group, a liberal-leaning research caucus in the Texas House. While Texas has the second-highest public school enrollment, the state ranks last in the percentage of people 25 and older with a high school diploma. And though Texas has the highest percent of its population without health insurance, the state is 49th in per capita spending on Medicaid, and dead last in per capita spending on mental health, according to the report. " http://web.archive.org/web/20150401050939/https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/14/texas-is-on-the-brink-legislative-study-group-says/ http://web.archive.org/web/20150401050939/https://www.texast... Disclaimer: My personal opinion is Texas is hell on Earth, Somalia if it had a southern flair. YMMV. (Except Austin)

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Artistry121 11y ago
Those statistics are sobering. I'm not sure what current policy can do to change the amount of people over 25 with a high school diploma - but that could be because of many factors including high immigration from other states (Texas has had net inflows from almost every state for 5+ years) mostly on the bottom end of the scale. The insurance statistics are also sobering. But Texas has loads of opportunity and many programs for business development. It would also be easier to save up money to move to CA if you were in Texas than the other way around...
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  > But Texas has loads of opportunity and many programs for business development. I keep hearing "business development" thrown around, but it really sounds like "avoiding paying taxes". As Kansas has shown, it drives your state into the ground.
  - norea-armozel 11y ago
    And the businesses don't want to come to Kansas that's for sure. The biggest complaint from then largest employers in Wichita in regards to WSU was the lackluster education programs in engineering and computer science. Having been through their graduate and undergraduate programs I understand why companies refuse to setup in Kansas. Why the hell would you want to pay any tax and potentially deal with substandard employees?

e40 11y ago

CA roads are notoriously badly maintained, especially in places like the Bay Area, where local taxes are high. (Sales tax in many cities is around 10%.) It's all about priorities and how your tax $$ are used. Also, Prop 13 in CA has skewed things, and the fact that businesses are exempt from Prop 13. There's been a movement to fix that, but I doubt it will happen.

dragonwriter 11y ago
Business are not exempt from prop 13; there are periodically moves to exempt commercial property from some parts of the prop 13 limits (usually not the rate limit, but the limit on tax value increases.)
- e40 11y ago
  You're right. I don't know where I read that, but searches have proven you right. Thanks.

TheCoelacanth 11y ago

Income taxes aren't the only form of taxes. Property taxes are staggeringly high in Texas compared to California (though I would argue that California could stand to have higher property taxes since it would help to put a lid on the ridiculously high prices to buy property there). Property tax rates of 2-3% are common in Texas, while in California, the maximum tax rate is 1% plus a small amount to pay back voter approved bonds (SF currently has a total tax rate of 1.14%). Additionally, in Texas, the taxes are assessed against the full market value, while in California, the assessed value can't rise by more than 2% per year, resulting in many people paying tax on far less than the market value of their property.