4 ms·

Taxes are much better and a low cost of living.

dlp211 5y ago
> Taxes are much better Only for the upper-middle class and rich. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c...
- nyolfen 5y ago
  texas does not have state income tax, sales taxes are about average and property taxes are higher than average
  - edbob 5y ago
    Property tax rates are higher on a percentage basis, but property values can be much lower, so you can still come out ahead on the property taxes. larsiusprime had a good analysis [0] that gets into some of the details. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28793851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28793851
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Right. People don’t get this because tax policy is dominated by right-wing memes but tax load for median families is way higher in Texas. Property tax rates on the median house are higher, while the effective income tax on the median income in California is very little. Median income tax burden in California is ~$350/yr.
  - bsagdiyev 5y ago
    That seems way off… when I earned $16/hr way back in my early working days my CA state income tax was a hell of a lot more than $350/yr. $16/hr is under the median CA income afaik.
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      If you filed married for example your 2020 tax burden on a gross income of 32000 ($16 * 2000 hours) would have been $272.
  - abduhl 5y ago
    Does the median family own their house? If not, then property taxes are not a relevant issue and if your argument is “median income tax gains are offset/overshadowed by median property tax losses” then you’re just wrong.
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      Yes, the home ownership rate in Texas, California, and the US as a whole is over 50%.
acdha 5y ago
Only for the richest people: Texas has lower state income tax but the local taxes more than make up the difference and so middle-class people end up paying a higher total tax rate. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c... Since the decision about where a large company's headquarters is located is typically made by someone on the ultra-rich end of the spectrum, they're optimizing for things which don't apply to most of their workforce. Cost-of-living should be lower, but I think that's important to view in more specific comparisons based on exactly where you're going to live — someone coming from San Francisco is going to find almost anywhere in the country to be cheaper but California is a big state there are many places where the comparison is going to be much less stark, and might end up being a wash depending on your job prospects and quality of life factors.

> Taxes are much better Only for the upper-middle class and rich. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c...

nyolfen 5y ago
texas does not have state income tax, sales taxes are about average and property taxes are higher than average
- edbob 5y ago
  Property tax rates are higher on a percentage basis, but property values can be much lower, so you can still come out ahead on the property taxes. larsiusprime had a good analysis [0] that gets into some of the details. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28793851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28793851
jeffbee 5y ago
Right. People don’t get this because tax policy is dominated by right-wing memes but tax load for median families is way higher in Texas. Property tax rates on the median house are higher, while the effective income tax on the median income in California is very little. Median income tax burden in California is ~$350/yr.
- bsagdiyev 5y ago
  That seems way off… when I earned $16/hr way back in my early working days my CA state income tax was a hell of a lot more than $350/yr. $16/hr is under the median CA income afaik.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    If you filed married for example your 2020 tax burden on a gross income of 32000 ($16 * 2000 hours) would have been $272.
- abduhl 5y ago
  Does the median family own their house? If not, then property taxes are not a relevant issue and if your argument is “median income tax gains are offset/overshadowed by median property tax losses” then you’re just wrong.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Yes, the home ownership rate in Texas, California, and the US as a whole is over 50%.

acdha 5y ago

Only for the richest people: Texas has lower state income tax but the local taxes more than make up the difference and so middle-class people end up paying a higher total tax rate. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c... Since the decision about where a large company's headquarters is located is typically made by someone on the ultra-rich end of the spectrum, they're optimizing for things which don't apply to most of their workforce. Cost-of-living should be lower, but I think that's important to view in more specific comparisons based on exactly where you're going to live — someone coming from San Francisco is going to find almost anywhere in the country to be cheaper but California is a big state there are many places where the comparison is going to be much less stark, and might end up being a wash depending on your job prospects and quality of life factors.