Would you move to a state with no income tax?

[ringmastery]

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming are the states with no income tax.

[Touchdown]

1. Nope!

I lived in Washington. Trust me, they get their money in other ways! Nickel and dime, nickel and dime.

[DemoTex]

2. Think twice before you do, and don't move for tax reasons alone.

My property taxes in Dallas, Texas (no state income taxes) were 11.6 times greater than my property taxes in North Carolina (state income tax). They get it one way or the other.

[fairfaxvadem]

3. "Low Tax, Low Service" is generally how it goes...

No thanks. It's hard enough dealing with the anti-taxers and the outdated tax system in Virginia. We're in a Battle Royale right now with Richmond.

[Avalux]

4. In Texas

no State Income Tax, but property taxes are high; so is sales tax. Not always a good thing.

[Raven]

5. I did. From Taxachusetts to New Hampshire.

The "live free or die" state. No state income tax, nobody bothers you, everybody minds their own business. I love it up here...now just to get this state to go for Kerry! :-)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. Property Taxes are ridiculous in NH

my parents pay more on a condo on the seacoast of NH than a big house in Mass. Plus a lot of the public schools in growing towns are underfunded. You pay one way or another if you don't have income tax.

[Raven]

15. I think it depends on where you live in NH.

I live in a very small town (1200) which offers very few municipal services. The real estate valuations here are very low, I live off a dirt road, take care of my own trash, have a well and a septic system. That makes a difference. In Newton, MA, my water/sewer bills were giant since they were also going to the Boston Harbor cleanup. My real estate tax bills were huge because they were supporting a bloated breaucracy.

But I think you are right about giving some things up. In my case, I wanted to give those things up for a simpler life.

[bleedingheart]

17. but your taxes may go up anyways...

near where I live is a township that had very low taxes...but all that is changing because the septic systems have become such a problem that they are being forced to hook into a sewer system.(raw sewage was bubbling up to the surface in many yards and it was contaminating water)..so now they will pay for sewage/water and they have to pay $10,000 or more per household as a hookup fee.

In addition their school taxes went up because the lure of a cute rural school was appealing to city folks.... now they turned a rural hamlet into a bustling suburb.

The key problem was they let the new housing growth develop without a plan...

However if it stays rural in your area...you will probably be okay.

As to real estate taxes, in our area it pays for the schools...did it pay for the same thing in Mass? My millage rate is 49 and we have a very good district.

[Raven]

20. Yes, about 50% of the re taxes in Ma go to schools...

but I had to put my kid in private school for junior high because the drug problem in the public jh at the time was so bad. That was years ago so it may be better now.

[shimmergal]

6. I did.

I moved from Indiana to Nevada in 1999. Taxes weren't the first consideration; family ties were.

But taxwise, I haven't been disappointed. Indiana's income tax is a bit demented--very close to being a "flat tax." No matter how much I increased my payroll deductions to cover it, I always had to pony up $400 or more extra at tax time.

The Nevada sales tax is a bit higher, but you don't pay it on _any_ non-restaurant food you consume, not even soft drinks. (Indiana's puritan heritage apparently classifies these as luxuries rather than food.) There are some other sales tax exceptions too.

Altogether I'm happy with the trade off. Nickel-and-diming on taxes seems to exist everywhere.

[swinney]

7. Buy this first

World almanac or Global almanac

$10....Learn what taxes you pay.

Each state has budgets and revenues. See how much is needed in revenues.

Check total Income for residents of each state.How much of it goes to state revenues.

No free lunch. Anywhere.

[ramblin_dave]

8. If you're retired

then high sales and property taxes will eat you up. Income tax is better since it tends to be lower for the usually lower fixed incomes of retirement years.

[booksenkatz]

10. Having lived in both

First 27 years of my life were spent in Texas (no tax), then 7 years in Florida (no tax), and almost 9 years now in Michigan (tax). The difference in the standard in living is amazing. Michigan is bleeding red ink with the rest of the states, that's true; but the schools, for example, are still stellar in quality in every way. My brother is a high school principal down in Texas, his horror stories about the lack of funding for basic needs are breathtaking -- he's a Republican who's going to vote for Kerry this time, that's how frustrated he is! He's in one of the finest schools in Texas, so if his school is suffering, I can't imagine how the poorer districts are faring.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

[Warpy]

11. Better check a little more closely

States that boast no income tax will always get you some other way, through property taxes (NH and Texas) or "intangibles taxes" (FL) or taxes on everything you own or are likely to get in the future.

There is no free lunch, folks, and they always get paid.

[ringmastery]

12. still anything has to be better than NYC

Outrageous local, state, federal, and sales taxes. There are plenty of shitty schools in NYC too.

[ithacan]

13. Never.

and I live in NY State. We have high taxes, property, income, sales.

The problem though is the current administration.

First, we are subsidizing the states that went for Bush. There is a net outflow of tax dollars from NY (and almost every other state that went for Gore) to states that went for Bush.

Second, the slashing and burning that the Repubs are doing in Washington is having severe consequences at the state and local levels. Not to mention unfunded mandates, like special ed mandates that are legally required but come with absolutely no funding (repubs cut out the proposals for funding those mandates).

Finally, the fact that so much of our tax dollars are going to war rather than to helping our society be a better place. Those parts of the country that have a social concsience are being penalized by Bush.

This is not to say that there are no problems in NYS itself. There are. But the major problem is at the top.

All in all, I'd much rather pay high taxes and live in a humane state than pay no taxes and live in a republican paradise.

[Bombtrack]

14. New Hampshrie doesn't have one either, and Yes I would

I might live in Florida permanantly when I graduate, and Texas and Nevada would be in my top ten states to live in.

[Cleita]

16. Oregon was too, the last I heard, but they made up for it

with property taxes. Any average income people who feel that they can get by without paying taxes in one venue will find out they pay them in others. My problem with paying taxes is not the fact that they are there, but what they are used for. I think, we the people, need a bigger say where and what our tax dollars are spent on. If not, then we invite the treasury looters to come in and spend our money on corporate welfare, like what is happening today in the federal government.

First you give tax breaks to the top 1% of income earners, then you create a war to hand out government contracts to your contributors. In the meantime, education and health are cast to the winds.

[ihaveaquestion]

18. I live in Florida.

High tourism taxes support the state, so if tourism is off, we suffer. Like after 9/11 and when gas prices go up.

[bleedingheart]

19. My pet peeve are the little taxes on services like phone, cable etc

and what are they paying for????