[Myrddin]

My Idaho state income tax is $7249 + 7.8% of the amount over $100,000. California is $3445 + 9.3% of the amount over $78,266 for 2003.

I just tried out the current cost of living calculator to compare my current city in Idaho to San Diego, CA. A San Diego resident making $100,000 in 2003 can live as comfortably on $53,000 in Pocatello, ID.

The feds essentially let you take the state income tax off your AGI, so the extra I have to pay to Idaho comes off to some extent on the federal return.

Idaho sales tax is 6% this year. It was only 5% when I first arrived. I was paying 7.75% in San Diego. I bought a truck last year. $19,000+tax. My sales tax was almost 2% lower against $19,000. My registration was only $56 compared to a likely assessment over $500 from the CA DMV based on value. I have 3 vehicles with car insurance rates that are cumulatively less than a single vehicle cost me when I had it parked at my parent's home in Chula Vista. Much lower rates of theft and vandalism compared with being next to the Mexican border.

[Fledermaus]

Yeah, those high tax states really gouge you on car registration and licenes.

We pay 9.25% sales tax in Tenn (1% is "temporary" but they said that in 1990 about the .5% that increased it from 7.75 to 8.25 and is still being charged...of course, "for the children").

But everything else is really cheap and the cost of living is low. As usual, it depends on where you want to live and pay for a home or rent.

My parents moved us away from Ojai, CA in 1970 when they couldn't afford to rent or buy any longer due to the high property taxes.