When it sucks to be in the top ten...

[The Captain]

10 least tax-friendly states in the U.S.

finance.yahoo.com/news/10-least-tax-friendly-states-150706051.html

10. Illinois

..
View gallery
.
Wally Gobetz via Creative Commons/Flickr
State income tax: 5%
State sales tax: 6.25%
Gas taxes and fees: $0.39 per gallon

Sales taxes are steep in the Prairie State. In some municipalities, combined state and local sales taxes are as high as 10%. Qualifying food and prescription and nonprescription drugs are taxed at 1%, however. And the state income tax is a flat 5%.

The state's homestead exemption for owner-occupied residential property exempts up to $6,000 ($7,000 in Cook County) from a property's assessed value. Even then, though, the state has some of the highest property taxes in the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation. The median property tax on the state's median home value of $202,200 is $3,507.

FWIW - The median property tax is not reflective of the Chicago Metro area (as is noted in many of the comments).  Take the "median" they listed and more than double it and you start to get closer to what people in my area are paying for roughly the same value home.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Yay, California is still #1 at something...  

[Jaguar]

Ten most tax-friendly States in the USA


www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/T054-S001-10-most-tax-friendly-states-in-the-u-s/index.html

[wyouser]

Yah.....we're the number 2 most tax friendly state!  Just remember to bring a jacket...winters can be long and cold in Wyoming

[Blonde Granny]

Arkansas is just happy that on most of these top  or bottom states......Thank God for Mississippi!!!!

[marvholly]

captain

I, too, am in IL, Cook County also. It hurts. I would LOVE to move where I don't or seldom need to shovel snow BUT:
the summers tend to be miserable
my kids & 5 grands are all live within an hour of me

i might change my mind IF I could get no/little snow and moderate summer temps in the same location. In fact, I suspect the family might join me if I found that mythical place. DD1 is just 4 years short of having 20 into her pension system. Dd2 is 8 years short.

[ArchietheDragon]

Yea CT!

[Bonny]

Aug 26, 2014 15:38:58 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Yay, California is still #1 at something...  

We're #1!, We're #1!, We're #1!

I think you have to take this info with a big Salt Lick.

When the company DH worked for relocated outside of CA because it was "too expensive" e.g. high employee wages, rents, and at the time 'rolling black-outs" they were thinking short term. Ultimately I think if they did an honest cost-benefit analysis I believe they would find out they didn't save anything and in fact lost some major market share.

They wound up spending a ton of money to get their highly qualified folks (like DH) to move because they couldn't find local talent. Their "tax incentives" eventually expired (prop 13 real property taxes don't). In the meantime the CA infrastructure issues were fixed and had they been patient they would have had an opportunity to realign when  property prices and wages corrected (briefly). Lastly the company really missed out on the innovation that goes on here and the great talent the area attracts. The company still hasn't really recovered.

As retirees there's a lot to keep us here. Lower property taxes, cheap utilities, 20 minutes to one of the countries busiest airports, lots to do and clean air and water.

People need to take a longer view than just taxes. As phil5185 says you need to focus on wealth building.