3 ms·

Yea, CA income taxes are in the range of 10%, right? Move to a state without income taxes and you’ve already avoided taking a net salary reduction.

gamblor956 6y ago
Nobody ever stops to ask "why does this state have no income taxes"? And the answer is almost always that if they had an income tax nobody would want to live there.
- kortilla 6y ago
  That’s a dumb posthoc justification. You’re suggesting nobody would want to live in Washington state if it had income tax yet Oregon has very similar climates and cultures (both in the east and West) with an income tax and people live there.
  - Der_Einzige 6y ago
    Oregon also has no sales tax, so real tax burdens between washington and Oregon are extremely similar in practice for most people - same with laws and culture. Norcal, oregon, washington and BC are similar enough culturally that many want them to form their own nation (cascadia)
- Proziam 6y ago
  As someone who has lived on the east coast, west coast, Sweden, and Germany...I've gotta say I disagree. The best overall quality of life I've experienced has been in Nevada. My money goes farther, the people are less of an obstacle (NIMBY, zoning, traffic, homeless issues, etc), politics is basically a non-factor, and the commute times are measured in minutes instead of hours.
  - jdhn 6y ago
    >The best overall quality of life I've experienced has been in Nevada. As someone who lived on the East Coast, the Midwest, and Nevada, I'm surprised by this. Could you elaborate further?
    - Proziam 6y ago
      It's hard to really elaborate because everything is a package deal. California is silly expensive, but comes with a lot of social problems. New York is the same to a large degree. The midwest is cheap, but opportunity is more scarce. Most places in Europe just don't pay well, charge way too much tax, and then don't provide nearly the quality of social service many Americans believe they do. Nevada is the middle ground of a lot of these places. You have mountains if you like snow, you don't have to deal with snow (ever) if you don't want to. You have pretty good infrastructure if you want to work remotely, you can fly to LA in 45 minutes if you have to for work. (I'm convinced there are instances where it's faster to commute from Las Vegas to LA than from...outside of LA to LA). Typical commute time in Las Vegas is probably on the order of 15-20 minutes. Under normal traffic conditions you can make it from one end of the city to the other in 45 minutes or less. Socially, there's less politics here in general. Less of the NIMBY folks pushing for poor policy and zoning. Less protesting/rioting/looting. If I had to guess, the average person here owns a firearm, but nobody ever really seems to notice or care. Crime is comparable to California overall but there's more places in LA that I would put on my "never go to" list than in Vegas. And, while we definitely have homelessness, it's substantially less than when I was recently in LA. With all of that having been said I think the most important thing is cost. My fiance, at 22 (and with no college degree) makes 17/hr doing admin work for a local construction company. She just bought her own house and is living comfortably. She did that without any financial assistance from me, or her parents, because it wasn't necessary. Her mortgage is under 1k/m for 1800(ish?) square feet of a reasonably modern house.
      - jdhn 6y ago
        This is very belated, but thanks for the answer. I only asked because I lived in Nevada only to move back to the Midwest for a job opportunity. I kind of miss it, as it is much more scenic than where I am in the Midwest, but at the same time the jobs are simply not there. >I think the most important thing is cost I completely agree, where I live houses aren't exactly cheap, and we have high state property taxes. It gets even worse if you move towards the local college town which has seen a huge bump in housing prices along with additional property taxes added on. It's a shame that western NV doesn't have more UX jobs, but at the same time, remote work may change that.
- spc476 6y ago
  Florida has no state income tax, but it does have sales taxes that are largely paid by tourists visiting the state.

gamblor956 6y ago

Nobody ever stops to ask "why does this state have no income taxes"? And the answer is almost always that if they had an income tax nobody would want to live there.

kortilla 6y ago
That’s a dumb posthoc justification. You’re suggesting nobody would want to live in Washington state if it had income tax yet Oregon has very similar climates and cultures (both in the east and West) with an income tax and people live there.
- Der_Einzige 6y ago
  Oregon also has no sales tax, so real tax burdens between washington and Oregon are extremely similar in practice for most people - same with laws and culture. Norcal, oregon, washington and BC are similar enough culturally that many want them to form their own nation (cascadia)
Proziam 6y ago
As someone who has lived on the east coast, west coast, Sweden, and Germany...I've gotta say I disagree. The best overall quality of life I've experienced has been in Nevada. My money goes farther, the people are less of an obstacle (NIMBY, zoning, traffic, homeless issues, etc), politics is basically a non-factor, and the commute times are measured in minutes instead of hours.
- jdhn 6y ago
  >The best overall quality of life I've experienced has been in Nevada. As someone who lived on the East Coast, the Midwest, and Nevada, I'm surprised by this. Could you elaborate further?
  - Proziam 6y ago
    It's hard to really elaborate because everything is a package deal. California is silly expensive, but comes with a lot of social problems. New York is the same to a large degree. The midwest is cheap, but opportunity is more scarce. Most places in Europe just don't pay well, charge way too much tax, and then don't provide nearly the quality of social service many Americans believe they do. Nevada is the middle ground of a lot of these places. You have mountains if you like snow, you don't have to deal with snow (ever) if you don't want to. You have pretty good infrastructure if you want to work remotely, you can fly to LA in 45 minutes if you have to for work. (I'm convinced there are instances where it's faster to commute from Las Vegas to LA than from...outside of LA to LA). Typical commute time in Las Vegas is probably on the order of 15-20 minutes. Under normal traffic conditions you can make it from one end of the city to the other in 45 minutes or less. Socially, there's less politics here in general. Less of the NIMBY folks pushing for poor policy and zoning. Less protesting/rioting/looting. If I had to guess, the average person here owns a firearm, but nobody ever really seems to notice or care. Crime is comparable to California overall but there's more places in LA that I would put on my "never go to" list than in Vegas. And, while we definitely have homelessness, it's substantially less than when I was recently in LA. With all of that having been said I think the most important thing is cost. My fiance, at 22 (and with no college degree) makes 17/hr doing admin work for a local construction company. She just bought her own house and is living comfortably. She did that without any financial assistance from me, or her parents, because it wasn't necessary. Her mortgage is under 1k/m for 1800(ish?) square feet of a reasonably modern house.
    - jdhn 6y ago
      This is very belated, but thanks for the answer. I only asked because I lived in Nevada only to move back to the Midwest for a job opportunity. I kind of miss it, as it is much more scenic than where I am in the Midwest, but at the same time the jobs are simply not there. >I think the most important thing is cost I completely agree, where I live houses aren't exactly cheap, and we have high state property taxes. It gets even worse if you move towards the local college town which has seen a huge bump in housing prices along with additional property taxes added on. It's a shame that western NV doesn't have more UX jobs, but at the same time, remote work may change that.
spc476 6y ago
Florida has no state income tax, but it does have sales taxes that are largely paid by tourists visiting the state.