taxes
common knowledge holds that california is a high tax state. and it is. and it isn't. the *average* tax rate is the second highest in the nation. the *median* tax rate is the ninth *lowest*. strange but true. i recently had this discussion with my mother. she currently lives in pennsylvania. there they have a 3% flat income tax with no deductions and 10%(!) property taxes and 6% sales tax. mom's monthly outgo looks like this: $1000 property taxes, $800 mortgage, $300 utilities, $250 car, $150 meds, $150 food, $100 gas = $2850. her monthly ingo from social security and her minimum wage part time job is $1100. she has no savings. so she's going into debt by $1750 every month. but she can't afford to move to california where her children and grandchildren live because the taxes are too damn high! okay. let's take a look at that one. california has progressive income taxes. she'd be in the 0% bracket. property taxes are 1-2% on house values inflated by 2-3x. and 7.25% sales tax. wee. seems like a big win on property and income tax fronts. a person with no disposable income doesn't buy things subject to sales tax. so that one's irrelevant. sigh.