Overall tax burden by states

[Lostinspace]

You might want to check out how various states fare with respect to taxes.&nbsp; This webpage looks at state and local taxes and includes; sales tax, property taxes, income tax if the state has it, gas taxes and all taxes.&nbsp; <br /><br />Of course Alaska fares best with a 7% tax burden overall with average per capita income of $46,098 and of course the worst states are in the NE rust belt, not all with a high per capita income either.&nbsp; My state, Florida with no state income tax but about medium gas tax and relatively higher property taxes, came in at 9.3% with per capita income of $40,053.&nbsp; California is high at 11.2% <img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/bawl.gif" class="bbc_img" />(this before their latest iniative of voting themselves a tax hike), although per capita income is higher at $43,919.<br /><br />So how does this impact the vandweller?&nbsp; I would say it impacts which state you use as your home base.&nbsp; If you are a SS recipient like me, pick a home state with no income tax.&nbsp; If you want to have a home base property, pick one with no income tax and low property tax.&nbsp; Not sure which state falls in that category though.&nbsp;<br /><br />I have a friend, ex college roomate that has been trying to get to move to Arkansas.&nbsp; But they rank in at 10.0% local and state taxes with a per capita income of $32,768.<br /><br />I guess I need to do some more research to see which taxes in a prospective state would effect me most as a vandweller?<br /><br />Here is the url.. <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"><a href="http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-tax-burdens-all-states-one-year-1977-2010" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #ff0000;">http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-tax-burdens-all-states-one-year-1977-2010</span></a></span></strong>&nbsp; As you may have noticed it has numbers from 1977 through 2010.&nbsp; Not sure what 1997 and later&nbsp;figures would do for you except possibly seeing how much a state has raised taxes through the years.<br /><br />Anyway what are your thoughts folks?<img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" class="bbc_img" />&nbsp; It was somewhat of an eye opener for me.&nbsp; And if you picked a state to use for home base, which state and why?

 

[Lostinspace]

I guess I should have noted that the overall rate for the US is 9.9% state and local taxes and per capita income is $41,146.

 

[Seraphim]

There have been a lot of discussions on stae of residence. A search of the forums might get you started. Another topic of interest may concern actually getting residence status in the state you choose. Residency has to be proven, possibly difficult for. A van dweller.

When we considered selling the house - an idea eventually vetoed by DW - we looked into a Texan organization called Escapees. They provide mail forwarding service and a home address to prove residency in Texas. Low cost, I believe . They also have other services for additional fees. Someone mentioned South Dakota once (I think).

But start with a search - a lot of info already archived here.

 

[Dazzlecat]

There's a great article on this at:<br>http://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/06/best_tax_state_for_fulltime_rv.php<br><br>It says Texas and South Dakota are the best states for RVers to call home for tax purposes.