Off to Vegas, Again

😆 🤣 

I have several friends that spend 6 months in texas during the winter months now that they are retired.  They were able to buy an afordable 2nd home down there in a retirement community and love it.  I also have family in all 3 states.  If money is no object, then by all means colorado, but the the crime and the drug problem for the kids there is out of control..Just my understanding from family living there in the denver area.

We also spent a week In Avon Co this summer and all the extra taxes added to the bills were crazy.  Living wage tax,  transportation tax,  credit card fee.  Every place we went in the area had 4 different add on fees or taxes..  

A state with low taxation doesn't provide as many basic goods and services. A high-taxation state will have better infrastructure and amenities. There ain't no free lunch either way--you don't get what you don't pay for.

That said, I believe that no one who doesn't benefit from a tax (even indirectly) should be subjected to it. Forcing Vegas visitors to pay for the goddamn football stadium (to give just one example) is criminal.

I think if you compare Colorado or Oregon to Texas, you'll find higher taxes in the first two states but also better quality of life--however you wish to measure that. And of course, there are demographics/ideological groups to whom quality of life absolutely does not matter, at least not the way most of us define it, anyway.

We pay high property taxes here in Portland. One benefit is that we have an awesome parks system; another is that public transportation is great (and cheap). Now, if you're a beer-swilling redneck with a pickup truck, you may not care about those things, and consequently may chafe at the high taxation. If you're a person who would like to do without a car and/or loves green spaces, hell yeah high taxes. To each his own---but let's NOT pretend that low taxation exists in a vacuum and that there aren't trade-offs.

I could see why retirees like it. Retired folks don't care about poor schools nor do they worry about becoming pregnant and not being able to get health care.

There is no such thing as a living wage tax. 

I'm not sure where they live in the Denver area, but that statement is ridiculous.

My wife's old basketball coach splits time between Michigan and Texas, for the same reasons you mention.  He also lives in a retirement community in Michigan that has like 5 golf courses.   My wife and son visited him this summer and said it was beautiful, compared to Texas, which we visited the year before.  

Credit Card fees are charged by businesses not government. 

The extra taxes or fees, if that makes you feel better are real and are added to the bill.  And that includes the city market, not just the resturants.