Should CA taxes prevent me from moving there?

That sort of depends on you, your salary, and your feelings about the role of government. My view is that as citizens, we receive benefit from the state, and I realize that they have to be paid for somehow. I am willing to pay for those benefits.

Others believe that the government has no role in their lives, and therefore they are unwilling to pay taxes. (But then, they expect that government will provide the services anyway)

I would say that taxes will be a factor, but should not be the deciding factor. You would be better served by making the decision to move based on job, environment, family, weather, access to the ocean – than on the amount of taxes you will pay.

But that’s my value system. Yours may be different,

Only you know what you can afford, and can plan accordingly.

I love San Diego. I’d give up my brand new two-story house in South Carolina to move into a shitty apartment in San Diego if I could afford it. Unfortunately, my husband’s job is here and he could never handle driving in Cali, so here is where we shall stay.

Like the others said, it depends in your financial situation.

I grew up in New England, and in my 20s I started moving because of my career. Since 1977 I’ve lived all over the country: North Carolina, Florida, Oregon, New York, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan and California, before finally coming back to NE to stay in 2002. (I don’t plan to leave again.)

The worst year that I spent – the only place that I actively disliked among all of those – was Southern California. I even liked living among my in-laws in Michigan for ten years more than that year in California. It wasn’t just the taxes.

However, that might be home to you. So you might have completely different feelings about it. Connecticut certainly has high taxes, too, but the taxes don’t drive me away, any more than “low taxes” would necessarily attract me; I’m just not money driven in that way. Massachusetts and Connecticut are “home” to me, and I’ll always be comfortable here, high taxes and bad weather and awful laws and all.

If Sandy Eggo is home to you and you want to go there, then go.

Do you know what Robert Frost said about home? “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Go home.

Is it the amount of money it will cost you, or some moral objection you have to taxation? If you love CA I think go for it. CA is generally very expensive compared to most of the US, so if you want to go, usually the sooner the better. Their housing prices and other things tend to go up, so waiting will like cost your more to get in so to speak.

You certainly can just take a vacation there every year, but it isn’t the same as living there. I think where you live matters a lot for overall happiness. I would say it is top 4 important. Job, family, friends, city, not in that order.

You could try to find an equivalent city that has the majority of the things you like about CA at a lower price and lower taxes. FL, is warm like CA (actually Florida is hotter) an has zero income tax. Real estate is less expensive in FL generally. Or, maybe you like CA for other reasons.