[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

[b][u]Palm Be
Republicans are leaving Blue States up East for Florida in part due to the overall lower cost of living in FLA vs NY, NJ, CT, MA. Florida's lower taxes are just 1 part of the overall cost of living. Palm Beach County is one of the most costly places in Florida...an outlier, & very poor choice for comparison....like Darien CT would be, or Westport, or Greenwich.

Those last three locales you mentioned are small towns, not a county of 1.5m people. And ironically for you, the town I left was a neighbor of the above three you mentioned, so a very similar cost of living to them.

People can try to manipulate statistics to make them reveal whatever we want and you can compare x vs y until we’re blue in the face. But what’s important to people is the comparison of where they left vs where they are now. For me, as I stated, where I am now (coastal Palm Beach County) has a cost of living that’s much higher, by every metric, than the area I lived - a neighbor to Darien and Westport. That includes taxes.

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I’m telling you as someone who owns a home in Palm Beach County and Simsbury, Connecticut - everything is higher in Florida. Price per square foot, taxes, insurance, maintenance, electricity, groceries. The only thing we save on is income tax (and some various taxes like vehicle tax). The list you’re looking at doesn’t take into account every aspect of cost of living, and is likely using dated statistics.

I agree. The income tax does not tell the whole story. According to the Forbes COL calculator it is 13% more expensive to live in Ft. Lauderdale than Hartford, CT. Food, gasoline, and home repairs are all higher in FL. Property taxes on my 1 bedroom condo in Ft. Lauderdale are almost the same as my colonial in central CT. The property insurance is double. Additionally, for property insurance, Citizens is now my only choice and they limit liability to $100,000 which doesn't meet the minimum requirements of an umbrella policy.

I had thoughts of selling my CT home and enjoying no income taxes in retirement when purchasing my home in FL. However, the primary driver of the purchase decision was the warm weather in the winter not the taxes. For now I am content with just being a part-time FL resident.

[silverct9a]

THIS! This statement is the entire point. In a county with approximately 1.54 million people, a median home price of over $600k is absolutely bonkers.

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

That’s exactly what it is. And a median in the 600s for such a massive and populated county is crazy.

[Ghaati]

If we had to mortgage in Florida, we would never have been able to move to Florida at all. The cost of living combined with mortgage is significantly higher than what we were paying for the same in Connecticut.

But since we were able to downsize from a half acre and ranch home with a garage and full basement, to a double-wide on 1/8 acre, and were able to pay the price of the home within a year of buying (including a loan from a relative to hold us til our northern home closed on the sale), we're able to afford living in Florida. And that is the ONLY way we would've been able to do it.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

If we had to mortgage in Florida, we would never have been able to move to Florida at all. The cost of living combined with mortgage is significantly higher than what we were paying for the same in Connecticut.

But since we were able to downsize from a half acre and ranch home with a garage and full basement, to a double-wide on 1/8 acre, and were able to pay the price of the home within a year of buying (including a loan from a relative to hold us til our northern home closed on the sale), we're able to afford living in Florida. And that is the ONLY way we would've been able to do it.

^^^anecdotal...CT's cost of living is higher than Florida's:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...index-by-state

CT has a death tax over $5M, so anyone that has over $5M will want to leave CT & move to FL...or some other lower cost and lower taxed State.

https://smartasset.com/estate-planni...cut-estate-tax

Republicans are conservative...as in conserve their own wealth, and not be forced to give it to State gov't in all kinds of taxes.

For being such a tiny State, I sure do see a LOT of Ct car tages down here in the "Free State of Florida". I guess they are mostly Republicans fleeing higher cost of living, and taxes....expecially the death tax.

Republicans also know about the failed pension plans in many of the Northern States. That means even higher taxes in the future so taxpayers can pay for gov't worker's retirements.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

^^^anecdotal...CT's cost of living is higher than Florida's:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...index-by-state

CT has a death tax over $5M, so anyone that has over $5M will want to leave CT & move to FL...or some other lower cost and lower taxed State.

https://smartasset.com/estate-planni...cut-estate-tax

Republicans are conservative...as in conserve their own wealth, and not be forced to give it to State gov't in all kinds of taxes.

For being such a tiny State, I sure do see a LOT of Ct car tages down here in the "Free State of Florida". I guess they are mostly Republicans fleeing higher cost of living, and taxes....expecially the death tax.

Republicans also know about the failed pension plans in many of the Northern States. That means even higher taxes in the future so taxpayers can pay for gov't worker's retirements.

I said it in the last thread and I’ll post it again here: Your source’s methodology does not take into account two of the three things that make FL’s cost of living so high; house prices, taxes and insurance.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

^^^anecdotal...CT's cost of living is higher than Florida's:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...index-by-state

CT has a death tax over $5M, so anyone that has over $5M will want to leave CT & move to FL...or some other lower cost and lower taxed State.

https://smartasset.com/estate-planni...cut-estate-tax

Republicans are conservative...as in conserve their own wealth, and not be forced to give it to State gov't in all kinds of taxes.

For being such a tiny State, I sure do see a LOT of Ct car tages down here in the "Free State of Florida". I guess they are mostly Republicans fleeing higher cost of living, and taxes....expecially the death tax.

Republicans also know about the failed pension plans in many of the Northern States. That means even higher taxes in the future so taxpayers can pay for gov't worker's retirements.

Your information is not correct.

The exemption for estate taxes in Connecticut caps at $12.92 million, not $5 million. Most people in Connecticut don't inherit $12.92 million. Most people in Connecticut don't have $12.92 million to leave to their relatives. And most people who do, probably already have a winter home in Florida and don't need to "move" here.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

Your information is not correct.

The exemption for estate taxes in Connecticut caps at $12.92 million, not $5 million. Most people in Connecticut don't inherit $12.92 million. Most people in Connecticut don't have $12.92 million to leave to their relatives. And most people who do, probably already have a winter home in Florida and don't need to "move" here.

In 2019, it was $5M, but they've upped it since, so now its higher.

CT has more Millionaires per capita than 47 other States, so many are impacted by the death tax there...unless they move...which many do.

What a dumb way to run a State...running off your wealthiest residents by confiscating their $ when they die.

"Connecticut is not tax-friendly for retirees. In fact, it ranks among the least tax-friendly states in the country for those in their golden years."

https://smartasset.com/estate-planni...cut-estate-tax

Now I know why I see so many CT car tags down here in FLA (especially for CT being such a tiny State)...hoards of affluent Republicans fleeing CT's death tax.

No wonder why CT ranked 40th for net domestic migration 2023:

https://taxfoundation.org/wp-content...us-data-RV.png

FLA's happy to have the affluent Republicans fleeing CT...thx CT for exporting your wealthiest residents to FLA

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Now I know why I see so many CT car tags down here in FLA (especially for CT being such a tiny State)...hoards of affluent Republicans fleeing CT's death tax.

uh no....

we met our new neighbors from CT.....and they are as liberal as it gets

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

uh no....

we met our new neighbors from CT.....and they are as liberal as it gets

Our street is mixed, but our community is Red, our voting precinct is Red, our zip code is Red, SW Florida is Red, & we can almost call Florida Red...not quite yet, but trending Red.

I wonder if FLA has reached the 1M mark yet for more registered Republicans than Democrats?