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One of the most direct examples of this for the HN demographic is the migration of tech workers from San Francisco to Seattle, which has similar wages but no in

One of the most direct examples of this for the HN demographic is the migration of tech workers from San Francisco to Seattle, which has similar wages but no income taxes and no capital gains taxes. That saves tens of thousands of dollars per year on income tax alone. It isn't a secret that of the two big factors incentivizing people to move to Seattle from San Francisco, one of them is the substantially reduced tax incidence (the other factor being quality of life). There is definitely a threshold where people start arbitraging tax differences between States, though it doesn't happen often because demographic and lifestyle preference dimensions also factor heavily. The partial de-correlation between tax policy and predominant demographics/lifestyle in recent years, combined with relentless tax increases in some jurisdictions, has created an environment ripe for tax arbitrage.

crystaldev 7y ago
As a non-vampire, I have to laugh at "quality of life." You can't use those tax savings, or any amount of money for that matter, to buy a clear day in January. Not to mention the wildly different personalities cultivated by each climate.
- jandrewrogers 7y ago
  Most of the great cities of northern Europe have winter climate that is similar to or worse than Seattle, and many are at higher latitudes. So yes, if you solely define "quality of life" as "lots of winter sun", you will find yourself disagreeing with most popular benchmarks for quality of life.
- existencebox 7y ago
  Please excuse what would otherwise be a glib comment, only writing this because I peeked out my window (seattle) and got a good chuckle out of your making this statement on the one day I can make this joke: It's fine; we don't need money to buy a clear day in January, just for someone on the internet to assert we don't have any for nature to go "Oh no they didn't." (full disclosure it is a little cloudy but the sun is definitely out, and it's gorgeous.)
  - crystaldev 7y ago
    I'll try to assert that you don't have any sun more often then :)

crystaldev 7y ago

As a non-vampire, I have to laugh at "quality of life." You can't use those tax savings, or any amount of money for that matter, to buy a clear day in January. Not to mention the wildly different personalities cultivated by each climate.

jandrewrogers 7y ago
Most of the great cities of northern Europe have winter climate that is similar to or worse than Seattle, and many are at higher latitudes. So yes, if you solely define "quality of life" as "lots of winter sun", you will find yourself disagreeing with most popular benchmarks for quality of life.
existencebox 7y ago
Please excuse what would otherwise be a glib comment, only writing this because I peeked out my window (seattle) and got a good chuckle out of your making this statement on the one day I can make this joke: It's fine; we don't need money to buy a clear day in January, just for someone on the internet to assert we don't have any for nature to go "Oh no they didn't." (full disclosure it is a little cloudy but the sun is definitely out, and it's gorgeous.)
- crystaldev 7y ago
  I'll try to assert that you don't have any sun more often then :)