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Comment by phil248 | Hacker News Reader

"If you make 100k, the state could take 9k a year."

That is absolutely not how income taxes work. If you live in California and earn $100k, your tax liability would be around $6k before any exemptions or deductions.

These things can easily be looked up, FYI.

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So true, but as a first pass, the high marginal tax rates in California, Washington, and Wisconsin have to be accounted for as a "cost of relocating." If you are a successful professional you are probably making closer to $250K and the highest marginal rate can apply to that last $150K. So moving from low tax Michigan to high tax California can mean $10,500 more in taxes. Over 20 years that adds up.

Washington State has no income tax.

250k seems very high to qualify as a successful professional. Very few people will ever make that much.

If you are in tech and are considering moving to CA and the income tax difference is actually a deterrent then you shouldn’t move because you are already making a disproportionally huge salary for your region.

In my experience, talking to many many people considering moving to or from CA, the delta in salary coming to CA dwarfs any differences in income tax.

For reference, about 1.6% of Americans make $250K or more.

So your definition of "successful professional" isn't quite the proverbial 1%, but it's close enough for government work.

> Washington

Washington has no income tax.

We do have stupid regressive sales taxes.

and taxes on sugary beverages that don't include milk based beverages because Starbucks.

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-californi...

"These things can easily be looked up, FYI. "

Sorry what? Yes, you could have.

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