Please rank the top 10 states in which to live.

[Fredom101]

1. California (Pros - legal, available medicinal herb, great climate, variety of places and cultures to choose to live in, lots of coastline. Cons - expensive, high taxes, regulations, gun laws)

2. Oregon

3. Washington

4. Colorado

5. New Hampshire

6. Maine

7. Montana

8. Wyoming

8. Idaho

9. Utah

10. New Mexico

I can be down with CA as #1 for the reasons you give + the strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Not sure I'd put NM on there. Seems like a beautiful place that's also a cesspool, no?

 

[Keith and stuff]

That's an example... use the... link I provided to research the measurements, dates, costs, taxes, fees, etc. Sheesh, people are getting lazy round here.

Fair enough. Some of the info there was useful. I've already seen all of that data before, as you might imagine. I'll +Rep you.

 

[Deborah K]

This is the problem with weed. Pot heads will tolerate most any conditions as long as they can have their weed.

Politicians realize this.

I suspect we will eventually hear, "Well yeah, the taxes suck, the random strip searches suck, the bi-annual sodomy sucks, but the weed is legal... it all balances out".

ROFL! +rep for laughs.

 

[Deborah K]

The property taxes are going to be the key issue for all citizens of all countries going forward.

Governments don't want to cut and businesses are drying up. The solution? Raise property taxes higher.

There is a cascading effect with this though. As property taxes rise, the odds of selling your home decrease.

Homestead exemptions, Massachusetts style "Proposition 2.5", and similar legal "protections" restrict how much your assessed value can go up in a given year but it does not affect how much the millage rate can be raised.

So, in Florida, those that thought the homestead exemption would protect them from out of control counties are waking up to the fact that it provided no protection against millage rate increases. I know of one county in Florida that will be raising the millage rate by 33% this year and possibly more.

If you are in a "no income tax", "no sales tax", or other accounting gimmick state that balances their budgets on the back of homeowners... you need to watch out.

Like......Texas? I'm not seeing Texas on any lists.

 

[Contumacious]

And please list your reasons. If there is already a thread on this, please post it or let me know. Thanks.

1. Puerto Rico, my birth place,

2. Oregon

3. Washington

4. Colorado

5. Texas

6. Florida

7. Montana

8. Wyoming

8. Idaho

9. Utah

10. New Mexico

.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Those least populated states look very attractive.

 

[Pericles]

Like......Texas? I'm not seeing Texas on any lists.

Probably the primary reason along with no open carry of handguns - you can open carry everything else, including Patriot anti - aircraft missiles, just not handguns and knives with blades over 6 inches long.

 

[Keith and stuff]

Originally Posted by daviddee
The property taxes are going to be the key issue for all citizens of all countries going forward.

Governments don't want to cut and businesses are drying up. The solution? Raise property taxes higher.

There is a cascading effect with this though. As property taxes rise, the odds of selling your home decrease.

So, in Florida, those that thought the homestead exemption would protect them from out of control counties are waking up to the fact that it provided no protection against millage rate increases. I know of one county in Florida that will be raising the millage rate by 33% this year and possibly more.

If you are in a "no income tax", "no sales tax", or other accounting gimmick state that balances their budgets on the back of homeowners... you need to watch out.

In almost all of the communities, the voters themselves are the executive branch of the town. They set the town and school budgets. If they want property taxes to go up, the taxes go up. If they want property taxes to go down, property taxes go down. Some parts of NH don't even have property taxes. In some parts, the voters decide they wanted very high property taxes.

It various from community to community. For someone looking to pay very little taxes and live in the lower 48, NH is the place to be as long as you choose to move to a low or no property tax community. If by chanc, you decide to live in an average property tax community, you can work with your neighbors to encourage the people of the town to support a town spending cap, a town tax cap, a school spending cap or all of them. You can even pay very little property taxes in a high tax community if you live in an inlaw apartment, basement, RV or trailer on someone else's property.

What you said might be true in places like FL, but it doesn't fit NH. There is no general sales tax here, there is no personal income tax here. The main reason why the tax foundation doesn't consider NH the second lowest state for state and local taxes is because it also consider state residents pay in another state. Something like 25% of NH workers work in another state, so the taxes those workers pay to other states is averaged in. I don't work out of state. My property taxes are just about nothing.

How people live is up to them but NH offers more oppurtunities for tax avoidance than any other state.

 

[LukeP]

I do not recommend New Hampshire. I do recommend Washington, no comment on any other states.

 

[eduardo89]

Not sure I'd put NM on there. Seems like a beautiful place that's also a cesspool, no?

NM is a federal welfare state. It receives $2.50 in federal money for every $1 it sends to DC. It's extremely reliant on the MIC. There are three massive USAF bases (Holloman, Cannon, Kirtland), as well as a missile testing range, and army proving grounds, and Los Alamos nuclear lab. Something like 15% of the state is employed directly or indirectly by the military.

 

[cjm]

Those least populated states look very attractive.

Here's population density by county. It gives you a better idea of where the people are. TX is yellow (most populated) on the map above, but you can see that most Texans live in the east and there's a whole lot of nothing in west Texas. You can fit several other States into that sparsely populated area. And as pcosmar noted, there aren't many people in UP Michigan either.

 

[Southron]

Does it really matter where you live as long as you have free and open migration? Even a paradise would be destroyed in a matter of time if anyone was allowed in.

 

[Ender]

Guns: http://www.gunsandammo.com/2013/03/14/ga-ranks-the-best-states-for-gun-owners-in-2013/
1 Arizona
2 Vermont
3 Alaska
4 Utah
5 Kentucky
6 Wyoming
7 Alabama
8 Kansas
9 Missouri
10 New Hampshire

Employment: http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
1 NORTH DAKOTA 3.1
2 SOUTH DAKOTA 3.9
3 NEBRASKA 4.0
4 VERMONT 4.4
5 HAWAII 4.6
5 IOWA 4.6
5 WYOMING 4.6
8 UTAH 4.7
9 MINNESOTA 5.2
9 NEW HAMPSHIRE 5.2
9 OKLAHOMA 5.2

Best run states: http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2012/11/27/best-and-worst-run-states-in-union/
1 North Dakota
2 Wyoming
3 Nebraska
4 Utah
5 Iowa

Of these lists only Utah & Wyoming are on all three.

 

[FunkBuddha]

Check out the forums at walkingtofreedom.com

Oh, and I recommend checking out the Hiwassee river watershed in the lower eastern part of the legal construct known as Tennessee.

 

[LukeP]

Don't forget that you also have to live in close proximity to the people in the state that you choose to move to.

 

[MelissaWV]

Don't forget that you also have to live in close proximity to the people in the state that you choose to move to.

Not really. If you look at the population density map, you could be miles and miles and miles away from the people in the state that you choose to move to

 

[tod evans]

Not really. If you look at the population density map, you could be miles and miles and miles away from the people in the state that you choose to move to

^^^^^^^^^^^ This! ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Why would a semi-rational person intentionally move to a city?

 

[daviddee]

...

 

[daviddee]

...

 

[Keith and stuff]

Before I left the USA, I had a guy looking at my house who was from Texas.

Exact quote, "Yeah, the property taxes are too high in Texas. I currently pay $35K a year and if I buy your house I cut my property taxes by 2/3s".

I thought $12K a year was bad. $35K I would go crazy.

NH was worse though. When I left NH I was paying a small fortune every year.

I pay pretty much no property tax. I pay no general sales tax, don't rent cars, don't stay in motels and almost never eat at restaurants, gas taxes are low and I frequently ride a bike or walk, liquor is tax free, I don't pay income tax. I get it that if you had a lot of dividends money coming in and didn't structure your finances in such a way as to avoid the dividends tax, that you might have high taxes on that. I sorry about that and your experience in NH.

People have the greatest ability to practice tax avoidance in NH of any state. However, that doesn't necessarily mean people will practice it. Some people even like paying high taxes. I'm OK with that. The great part about that is, they can pay high taxes in NH if they want to and I may pay low taxes if I want.

NH certainly isn't perfect. No state is even semi close to perfect politically. However, NH is about the freest now and the only place where there is a plan that might actually increase freedom anytime soon.

It also has the highest quality of life, near the lowest crime, the best educated, the lowest poverty, and so on and so forth. If people like entertainment, care about their children and enjoy the outdoors, NH is the best state to live.

We need a rule that if you live in a state you can't beat its drum. Bias blocks reality in many cases... .

There is likely some truth to that. Though I have been to all 50 states. Most of them multiple times. And it is not I was born in NH or have lived here all of my life. I have also done more research comparing and contrasting regions, states and cities than anyone else on this forum. Well, that may not be true but I've done well over 500 hours or search on the subject.