Best State of Residence for Full Timers

[Doggy Daddy]

I have been screwed and tatooed by the state of California for over 50 years with increasing
Vehicle registration costs, sales tax, property tax, insurance fees, taxes on my military retirement, inheritance tax, etc.

I have now downsized and sold my home and become a full time RVer.

What is the best state for a full timer without land to be a resident of ?

I hear South Dakota and then Texas....

What say you?

[bikendan]

one of our best friends from SoCal, has just went full-timing and they chose South Dakota. they did a lot of research and they felt that SD was the best one for them.

[dbandpj]

We live in SD and belong to Hart Ranch Resort. Just went full-time 6weeks ago. Everyone we talk to here in the park praises SD as the best place due to the low cost of health insurance, vehicle insurance/licensing and cost-of-living. Smart to do your research, and I'm sure SD will be the favored state. God bless you and I hope things improve for you!!

[FlyingDiver]

South Dakota, Texas, and Florida seem to top the list. If you have a military pension and medical insurance, then you should be OK in any of them. If you're buying your own medical insurance then you'll want to look into what's available in each of them. We picked Texas because of it's High Risk Pool insurance.

joe

[smack2020]

I am also a soon to be retiree from california(3 more years). I also plan on leaving California as a full-timer. I am going to domicile in South Dakota because I like the looks of their license plates better than Texas or Florida. Just kidding about the reason, but I am sure we will be South Dakotans soon.

Good luck and congrats on getting out of california.

[MikeandClaudia]

I think that Alaska is right up there also. I am using my old, faulty memory, but as I recall they don't have an state income tax, and the rest of them are low also.

If you are a property owner, you might can get in on other bennies also. Anyone remember details??

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HA! HERE IT IS:

Best: No. 1, Alaska

State income tax: None
State sales tax: None
Inheritance tax: No



Check out Alaska's attractions


Taxes? The Last Frontier State actually gives residents money for living there, distributed from its Permanent Fund, an oil wealth savings account administered by the state. This year, every man, woman and child who has lived in Alaska for at least one year received a 2009 dividend of $1,305. There's no income tax, no state sales tax, and only 25 municipalities even levy a property tax. Some municipalities impose local sales taxes of up to 7%, however.
:

[WheelingIt]

We went right from CA to SD and haven't looked back. SD fit the bill for us in all senses...no state income tax, low registration fees, low health insurance costs and very fulltimer friendly.

We did all our initial license plate registration by mail using our SD mail service (Alternative Resources) and then simply drove the rig for a visit to the Black Hills to get our drivers licence (which took all of 10 mins since we were the only people there!)

[Kayjulia]

I went full time several years ago and although I was satisfied with the mail svc at Escapees I wasn't happy with having to return to TX for vehicle inspections and found it harder and harder to find a place to inspect a motorhome unless I was around a dealership.

So I moved to SD, and don't regret it if I ever do I'll make another change. I used Americas Mail Box and they helped me get my vehicle registered my driver's license and voter registration. Even my insurance on the rig was better.They have their own RV park if you visit them so it is easy as pie. The folks at DMV were (get this) nice DMV knows all about full time RV'rs and all you do is follow instruction Americas Way tells you and it is a breeze. Heck I even like Rapid City and the Black Hills, in the summer of course

Where ever you choose your going to love not paying all that money to California. I met so many folks who have done the same thing and it is like winning the lottery not paying for all that stuff and get this most of the US doesn't pay those high prices for fuel either so welcome to the free world and enjoy

Do check out the medical insurance carefully before doing anything in my case I have Federal Employees Insurance and it was no problem not so with some others.

[450Donn]

Wonder why Oregon is not on the list? Reasonable license fees, no sales tax. What is not to like???

[wirelessenab]

Originally Posted by 450Donn

Wonder why Oregon is not on the list? Reasonable license fees, no sales tax. What is not to like???

State income tax.

[Mr Nifty]

You have to seriously consider South Dakota.

[sfrantz]

Originally Posted by 450Donn

Wonder why Oregon is not on the list? Reasonable license fees, no sales tax. What is not to like???

Oregon has an income tax which applies to retirement income too. There are three tax brackets of 5%, 7%, and 9%.


We kept our Oregon residency when we went full time since we had bought our motorhome while Oregon residents. We didn't pay sales tax since we are Oregon residents, and if we change residency we'd have to pay sales tax to the new state. It seems wrong to me, but we'd have to pay any state the sales tax on the price of the rig. We can't afford to change states!

[paz]

Originally Posted by sfrantz

Oregon has an income tax which applies to retirement income too. There are three tax brackets of 5%, 7%, and 9%.


We kept our Oregon residency when we went full time since we had bought our motorhome while Oregon residents. We didn't pay sales tax since we are Oregon residents, and if we change residency we'd have to pay sales tax to the new state. It seems wrong to me, but we'd have to pay any state the sales tax on the price of the rig. We can't afford to change states!

Some states forgive the sales tax if it has been longer than a specified amount of time since the vehicle was purchased. I don't think SD does this.

Vehicle tax in SD is a one-time fee of 3% based on original sales price of the vehicle. You would have to weigh that against continuing to pay income tax every year in Oregon. It depends on how much your vehicle(s) cost, how long you plan to own them, and how much taxable income you have. It may be advantageous in the long run to bite the bullet and pay the vehicle tax in SD, but the downside is you have to come up with the money all at one time.

[Clay L]

As I recall SD charged us 3% of the then current value of our 2004 motor home when we moved there in late 2005. They looked up the value in the NADA book. We moved there from NH which has no sales tax on vehicles.