Low-tax states attract budget-conscious Americans

[dkf]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bob VanSickle was a lifelong New Jersey resident, but when he left after 52 years for what he calls "kinder, gentler" New Hampshire, he never looked back.

It wasn't the warm fuzzies that won him over; it was the lower taxes on income, property and purchases.

"This is great," he said, seven years later. "I'm still paying less now than I was when I left New Jersey."

VanSickle estimates that he and his wife Anna save as much as $15,000 annually on taxes alone because they live in New Hampshire. "That's a year's tuition for my kid -- a lot of disposable income," he said.

http://us.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70K7J320110121?ca=rdt

[EstimatedProphet]

1. Property taxes ain't that cheap in NH

[Lindsay]

2. I have friends who live in SC

mostly because of the low taxes. They also complain constantly about the stupidity of the government in the state.

Go figure.

[bbinacan]

3. And this comes as a surprise

to the states they're fleeing?

[frazzled]

4. And exactly what do you DO in New Hampshire?

I can see that some people are able to decide to move to a different state, because they are fairly portable: they're a pharmacist, say (there are drugstores everywhere), or a mechanic. Many jobs, however, provide much less opportunity to move around. It's not likely you'll find the one job for a --I don't know -- paleontologist, or immigration specialist, etc. in New Hampshire.

I find this type of article distressing. I like New Hampshire--used to spend a lot of time there doing campaign work when I lived in Boston. But I always felt guilty going there to buy something tax-free. It didn't seem right.

[leftstreet]

5. Pfft. Only people with the means can afford to move

And their motive? To keep more of their money.

[dkf]

7. If you retire at 62 and live to 95 you need a whole lot of $ to live.

It may seem like people are saving a lot now, but who knows what the future holds.

[leftstreet]

10. All the more reason to raise the retirement age to 80 !!!1111

Yeah, let's not look at what's wrong with the system, let's write articles about making the Correct Personal Choices

WHEEEEE!!

[dkf]

12. Retirement is going to be for the wealthy and the savers.

[county worker]

6. It's wealthy people who move to avoid paying taxes.

My doctor was telling me how a retired college president that he knows who has a 6 figure retirement has to move to Nevada because the taxes in California are too high.

I said "He didn't have to, he wanted to."

[dkf]

8. Hawaii doesn't tax pensions.

He should have come here.

[2Design]

9. and the services are less too

[freethought]

11. This never lasts

Just wait till he sees what the New Hampshire public schools are like. Gene Shaheen tried to get an pretty paltry income tax passed to help get the schools more money. She wasn't successful.
Many people have moved into New Hampshire with the same idea, no income or sales taxes. Party on!!
But this sort of thing does not last, demands are put on the public infa-structure and to bring them up to speed, new taxes need to be passed. Like one poster says, "Who knows what the future holds!"

[Roselma]

13. My brother and his family moved to

South Carolina. Admittedly, he paid less in taxes, and the real estate was cheap. Then again, he took a significant pay reduction (15 to 20 percent, I think), and the schools were so bad that he felt it necessary to put his three children in private schools, and the local roads are really messed up, and the 911 service in his town was lacking, and....

You get what I mean. Sometimes a bargain just isn't a bargain when you look at the tradeoffs.

[onethatcares]

14. they should all move to floriduh

no income tax and our new baldheadedbuddy in the govs' office is gonna lower our property taxes and create 700,000 jobs in two years while allowing the property insurance companies to finally charge what they deserve and want, while our public service commission (service means what you do with a bull and cow) will allow electric rates to rise while Duke Energy and Progress Energy merge and finally charge what they deserve because it's harder to provide electric power on a peninsula. Meanwhile we're gonna hand out vouchers to everyone to finally kill the public school system, Hooray. as they used to say in a bygone era.

COME ON DOWN.

Joseonahalfshell, this farking place is sucking worse than a black hole.