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Apparently if you are retired warm and cheap beats out crime rates, life expectancy, education level of the population, and a host of other attributes.
If you’re retired, such things as education level, job opportunities, etc don’t matter to your quality of life.
And cold sucks. 100+ degree summers are far preferable to snowy winters.
Cheap becomes a particularly significant factor when your income potential is really low. Not being able to get overtime, a promotion, or that dream job rather severely limits one’s economic opportunities.
But what’s all that stuff about tax burden? Presumably that doesn’t matter much to retirees as you should think most of their income is coming from pensions etc, right?
If you’re not going to be earning lots then why care about a couple of percent going to the government. Heck you probably want a higher tax burden so all the young people around can subsidise things for you!
No electricity is expensive as fuck, and people die in high temp/humidity situations.
And WTF, low unemployment/HIGH TAX? Doesn’t retired mean NOT WORKING and LIMITED INCOME?
Screw that, high unemployment means I can pay for some kid to come and clean my house and mow my lawn, and low tax rate means I keep more of my retirement income for my own use.
Income is not the only thing that is taxed. Property taxes, sales taxes, etc. add up, especially with limited income.
I think they are referring to property tax and sales tax, not income tax, which presumably wouldn’t be a problem for retired folks. Property tax is a killer for old people. You have your house completely paid off and you still have to pay $5k, $10k, $15k a year just in tax to your municipality. That’s a great way to burn through your retirement fund.
Ah, I wasn’t aware American property taxes were anything like that much.
It’s totally dependent on what state you are in, and further, where in the state you live as different localities have different rates. I believe New Jersey is universally acknowledged as having the highest property tax in the country.
I live in a crappy house in a crappy municipality (not in NJ) and I pay $4k in taxes every year.
Many states tax pensions as income.