paying taxes for money you want to spend is a world of difference from being forced to pay it as you make it. in no-income tax states at least you have a chance to avoid some of it.
if you chose to live in a hovel, that’ll work in the states with confiscatory property taxes.
The big picture of how much one pays in TOTAL state taxes is what matters. We lived in Texas for a while, and many there were in denial that they were actually paying more in total state taxes than if they lived in California. (I did the math on our situation, hardly rocket science but the final tally was surprising).
Every situation is different. If someone makes a ton of money and lives in a modest house, then states like Texas and Florida will be economically advantageous. If they are retired with a lower income and have a more expensive home, not so much.
The best overall no-income-tax states are Nevada and although they have a state tax on dividends and higher sales tax, Tennessee. Their property taxes are pretty low. Alaska may be good too, I haven’t researched it since I don’t consider that an option to move to. Not for me, anyway.
oh, BTW, I didn’t mean the hovel comment personally. My goal is to have one, in the hills of Tennessee - as long as I get 50 acres of those hills, I couldn’t care less about the house. The smaller and cheaper the better, for me. (Less to clean, less property taxes to pay).
And I do agree that in a no-tax, high-property tax state, people get the choice of how much to pay in taxes by choosing which house to buy or in the case of high sales taxes, what other types of items to purchase. At least those are optional, to some extent.
I’ve just found that many people look at the income tax ONLY and disregard all the other taxes. And some states know it and take advantage, sadly.