Texas or Wyoming?

[Dave Berg]

Josh, one option is to look next door to Pennsy. There is only income tax on earned income, i.e. 1040 stuff.

I moved to PA when I retired 20 years ago to avoid the high income tax in Maryland. It is an improvement but not nearly as good as Florida.

I have an unqualified retirement plan which PA didn't tax until about three years ago. Now it's considered earned income. FL has no income tax at all. When Florida needs money they get it from the tourists. And yet they keep coming back.

The property taxes in PA are high - $4,500/yr on a house assessed at $350K. My PA "Homestead Exemption" saved me a whopping $10/yr. The property taxes on my Florida house are a little lower - $3,600 on a $350K house but in central Florida that amount of money buys twice the house. My Homestead Exemption in FL is $1,100/year so my net property tax in Florida is half of what I pay in PA.

PA also has a "Death Tax" which Florida doesn't. If your net worth is $100 when you die PA wants $4.50. If you own property in PA when you die the state wants 4.5% of the value even if you're not a PA resident. My wife and I will save our kids quite a lot of money by going through all the necessary steps to becoming Florida residents. It's way more than just buying a house and calling it home for 6 months believe me. It's worth it but still a real pain in the butt. Florida welcomes you with open arms but PA really doesn't want to let you go.

 

[243Mendoza]

ARIZONA

Yeah...Kyrsten Sinema territory.

 

[hogpatrol]

I moved to PA when I retired 20 years ago to avoid the high income tax in Maryland. It is an improvement but not nearly as good as Florida.

I have an unqualified retirement plan which PA didn't tax until about three years ago. Now it's considered earned income. FL has no income tax at all. When Florida needs money they get it from the tourists. And yet they keep coming back.

The property taxes in PA are high - $4,500/yr on a house assessed at $350K. My PA "Homestead Exemption" saved me a whopping $10/yr. The property taxes on my Florida house are a little lower - $3,600 on a $350K house but in central Florida that amount of money buys twice the house. My Homestead Exemption in FL is $1,100/year so my net property tax in Florida is half of what I pay in PA.

PA also has a "Death Tax" which Florida doesn't. If your net worth is $100 when you die PA wants $4.50. If you own property in PA when you die the state wants 4.5% of the value even if you're not a PA resident. My wife and I will save our kids quite a lot of money by going through all the necessary steps to becoming Florida residents. It's way more than just buying a house and calling it home for 6 months believe me. It's worth it but still a real pain in the butt. Florida welcomes you with open arms but PA really doesn't want to let you go.

Dave, You're getting off cheap. I looked at a bi-level just over the line from DE, in PA $287k, taxes $6052 a year for a patchwork quilt of macadam frontage road, low rated schools, no sewer, no water, no trash pickup. Even with income taxes, DE is half the tax load. I agree. The state inheritance tax in PA is akin to grand theft.

 

[joshb]

I just read all of the posts on this thread to my wifey. So far, our plan is to look at Cody, Buffalo, Dubois and Lander. 2-3 days in each spot.
Please keep the input coming!
Also, now she wants to know about the “big bugs”! Thanks for that one. I told her they were probably Stone flies (good for fishing) but she doesn’t believe me! Her answer to the snow is “Just get a bigger snow blower.” She’s a tough one! “You have a big 4wd. What are you worried about?”

 

[WindSurgeon]

What's the good, the bad, and the ugly of Newcastle?

Small WY town. Sits between the Black Hills and Thunder Basin. Good hunting ground. Has the distinction of being the only place in the last 20+ years that I was cited for speeding.

 

[varmintshooter]

Bill Wyoming, now that brings back a memory. I was a little low on fuel but thought no worries I'll fill up in Bill. I saw one motel and a garage but no gas station. Pretty desolate place. As I recall I had to go back to Douglas for fuel. If I were younger Wyoming would be okay, but to hard on an old guy from the east.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

Texas statewide sales tax is 6.25% even on a lot of stuff from the grocery store (“prepared foods” etc.), andalmost any city tacks on another 2% sales tax.

Property taxes range from about 2.2% to 3.2% — depending on your county, city, and other factors — of your valuation for your land and all improvements. Most folks with around 5-10 acres or more and not inside a deed restricted area get a few head of some kind of livestock to qualify for an agricultural exemption, which I believes reduces the tax on the qualifying land by around 90% but not certain about that detail.

No income tax.

The recently passed federal income tax $10,000 annual limit on state and local tax deductions (property tax and sales tax) was not good for middle- and upper-class Texans.

For those that live in states with state income tax, is there a limit on how much of that you can deduct on your fed taxes?

 

[xring]

Wow , Bill ... Wyoming brings back some really old memories . My old shooting buddy and I stopped at a tiny Restaurant ( I think there were one or two more buildings in town ) . I was looking at a Train that was stopping down in a big hollow ..... a fair distance away and saw a couple Trainmen walking toward us . I asked the gal at the Restaurant as to what the Trainmen were doing . She said : " Oh , they're just stopping for Lunch " ! She also told us our Maps could get us in real trouble if we travelled the back Roads and were short on gas ( which we were luckily not ) . If you need a bit bigger town to settle into : try Zortman ... Montana a roaring Western Berg ! I do miss the one room wooden Jail which used to rest prominently in the center of town . We did do a lot of Shooting in the Centennial , Wyoming area which was a nice area until some Highways wiped out one of our favorite Ranches .

 

[lkknack]

I was 15 when my family moved from beautiful downtown Bakersfield, CA to E Texas. I lived there for ~50 years (never did get use to the humidity, it's bad hot!!). Moved to Fort Collins, CO about 4 years ago (should have moved 15-20 years ago when housing wasn't out 'o sight). Now wanting to move to Sheridan, Buffalo, Cody, WY (not so windy there).
I hope as soon as I move up there they close those snow gates for good!

 

[lkknack]

I didn’t mention Jackson because it’s a liberal chithole overun with California millionaires. Home prices are ridiculous in the Jackson Hole area. It’s a shame because it really is a beautiful area.

Most of the millionaires are leaving because they can't afford it anymore!!

 

[ttfreestyle]

Wow , Bill ... Wyoming brings back some really old memories . My old shooting buddy and I stopped at a tiny Restaurant ( I think there were one or two more buildings in town ) . I was looking at a Train that was stopping down in a big hollow ..... a fair distance away and saw a couple Trainmen walking toward us . I asked the gal at the Restaurant as to what the Trainmen were doing . She said : " Oh , they're just stopping for Lunch " ! She also told us our Maps could get us in real trouble if we travelled the back Roads and were short on gas ( which we were luckily not ) . If you need a bit bigger town to settle into : try Zortman ... Montana a roaring Western Berg ! I do miss the one room wooden Jail which used to rest prominently in the center of town . We did do a lot of Shooting in the Centennial , Wyoming area which was a nice area until some Highways wiped out one of our favorite Ranches .

Was that Penny’s diner by chance? They make great milkshakes there...

 

[xring]

Was that Penny’s diner by chance? They make great milkshakes there...

Maybe ttf , but it was so long ago that I really cant remember . In those days a couple Cities that I really liked ( and would not mind living in ) and that had some my-t-fine Restaurants were Rapid City and Pierre S.D. . As an Easterner , I was told : " Don't pronounce it pee-air .....pronounce it pier " !

 

[joshb]

Most of the millionaires are leaving because they can't afford it anymore!!

I believe that! I looked at some real estate there. $500K gets you a one bedroom condo “near the slopes”. I don’t ski anymore! Reminds me of a line about New Yorkers. “Having $50 million is working class rich”

 

[antelopedundee]

I got a cousin lives in Wyoming, spends the winters at South Padre Is.,Tx,,wonder why.

I asked a friend how he liked summer in WY and he said that he had to work that day.

 

[antelopedundee]

What's the good, the bad, and the ugly of Newcastle?

Nothing, everything and everything!

Has a petrol odor over it and I can't think of a worse place to be on a cold, cloudy dreary, rainy day.

 

[antelopedundee]

View attachment 1100382

When the wind stops blowing everyone who is outside falls over.

 

[antelopedundee]

If it wasn't for the Thunder Basin coal mine, Wright would be a fuel stop.

2 years ago I took 387 over to I-25 and down to Douglas. Longer, but better scenery.

 

[Brians356]

I’ve been told that cattle outnumber people here [in WY]

So do antelope by my reckoning.
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[Brians356]

For those that live in states with state income tax, is there a limit on how much of that you can deduct on your fed taxes?

Yes. That was Trump's way to screw CA, NY, and MA in the new tax law.
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[Brians356]

If I had to leave Wyoming, Carson City, NV would be on my short list.

I live in Reno. The state government has been taken over by Dimocrat super-majority and a Dim idiot governor, a carpetbagger named Sisolak. Plus the state legislature is now over 50% female, a first for any state in America. That should sober you up. Gun-grabbing and planet-saving former cocktail waitresses are making the laws now, and they're bent on payback. Obummer and Billery won the last three Presidential elections in Nevada. Love to have a million like you move here, but ...
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