U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for July 1, 2024

[hotdogPi]

Maybe it's just too early for me, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how that chart is sorted. It's not by any individual colored bars. It's not by total tax burden. Strange.

It's sorted by total state taxes, excluding federal.

[JayhawkCO]

Maybe it's just too early for me, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how that chart is sorted. It's not by any individual colored bars. It's not by total tax burden. Strange.

It's sorted by total state taxes, excluding federal.

There we go. I knew there had to be something.

[mgk920]

What states other than HI, NV and UT don't have state-run lotteries?

Also, and it still stands with me, if I am EVER in the market for an O/O house, the presence of an HOA = 'NO offer' -- don't even bother wasting your or my time showing me one if it does.

Mike

[kalvado]

In other words, they did use your simple comparison, said "Oh, Texas is cheaper!" but didn't consider all the other increases in cost that Texas imposed.

States have to get money somewhere. The lower the income tax is, the higher other, more regressive taxes are.

It's the #1 scam the wealthy run to get the rest to subsidize the government because people pay more attention to income tax rates than anything else.

If I were running a state, there would be no sales tax except on gasoline, alcohol, tobacco and lottery; no toll roads; minimal vehicle registration fees. Nearly all of the state's income would come from income and property taxes.

Agreed overall.  The "low tax" states inevitably make up for it somewhere (more regressive taxes, more fees, pushing infrastructure maintenance/costs onto HOAs, etc.).  I don't mind sales tax, but then, NY has a ton of exemptions on things like groceries and clothing so that it really hits discretionary spending, not essential goods.  I'm not a fan of property taxes, though; they can make it so that people are pushed out of their home if rising property values make taxes unaffordable, or if they're unemployed and can't afford the tax bill.  At least income tax and sales tax (with appropriate exemptions) adjust with respect to ability to pay; property taxes don't.

if we are comparing NY to TX, a very significant chunk of difference in government spending comes from school budgets (Thanks to NYSUT, one of strongest public unions)  Oil money in TX seems to be another factor.

Comparing NY to TX's public schools shows you get what you pay for...

Comparing NY to US average shows that you don't.

Would rather have quality schools than average schools...

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education

#17 in Education
#22 in Best States Overall
#40 in graduation rates
#1 in costs per student.

I would say that's pretty much not getting what is paid for!

I'll take the combination of all factors which certainly shows NY outranks TX.

Certainly outranks in spending by a factor of 2.3  - does the rest of the ranking gaps getting close? 

[vdeane]

#17 in Education
#22 in Best States Overall
#40 in graduation rates
#1 in costs per student.

I would say that's pretty much not getting what is paid for!

NY's average is dragged down by urban poverty.  Looking at the districts where the parents actually care about education, they're on par with private schools in other states, or at least they were when I was in school.

[Scott5114]

Taking my own experience (which doesn't involve Texas or California but rather the states just north of each), we are living in a house in Nevada which cost twice as much as the one we were living in in Oklahoma.

What are the state income taxes and/or local property taxes like living in NV or OK?

Zero income tax in Nevada. There is property tax on real estate, which I would consider reasonable.

Oklahoma has a state income tax, which I considered reasonable. The tax tables start on page 27 of this PDF.  There is property tax on real estate, which I considered reasonable, as well as business inventory, which is fucking crazy. I owned a small business there, and I calculated once that I wouldn't have to grow too much before it got to the point where it would have made more financial sense to rent a storage unit in Kansas and just drive up there any time I needed to access my inventory.

The incredible thing is that the Nevada government seems to be run in a professional manner, and has processed every interaction I've had with it correctly and in a timely manner. As a roadgeek, I have very little to complain about with NDOT (well, NV-613 should probably have a lower number, I guess, and the alternate US routes are kind of silly, but they're an institution at this point). Oklahoma...well, they made the Craig County sign and took six months to get me a birth certificate once.