Friends giving up collecting in 2022

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by BobC

Just be careful and don't only look at sales tax alone. Most all states are going to have somewhat similar costs and needs to operate and run. The fact that some don't get revenue from sales tax likely means they get revenue from other sources, so you want to be sure to check and see that it may not end up costing you even more in some other aspect or tax. All states are different, but some may make up the sales tax through increased property taxes, income taxes, retirement related taxes, other business related taxes or fees, and so on.

Exactamundo! My tax law professor back in the day put it best: taxes are like a balloon. You push down one area and it pops up elsewhere. It is a zero-sum game. We have 'frozen' property taxes in CA due to a law passed 40+ years ago (once you buy a property the max increase each year is 2%; I pay property taxes that are based on less than a third of the actual value of my house because I bought it 24 years ago) but we have high sales tax, income tax, and governmental service user fees to make up for it. The cost of police, fire, emergency services, schools, roads, etc., doesn't go away just because...they are merely shifted to other taxpayers.