Help -- ruptured power steering pipe in Mobile, AL

[belfert]

probably burned around 23,000 gallons of diesel across all devices, and diesel fuel remains our #1 expense.  Even so, it is less than we paid in taxes alone when we lived in a condo in California.

Just how high are property taxes in California?  If you averaged 3,000 gallons a year at just $3 a gallon that would be $9,000 a year.  I thought my taxes here in MN are high at probably $4,000 for next year.

Do you and Louise consider yourselves to be retired?

[Sean]

Our property taxes in CA were in the neighborhood of $6,000, but CA also has a 9% income tax, and an ad valorem annual tax on motor vehicles, on top of an 8.5% sales tax.  Moving our domicile out of California saves us well over $15,000 a year in tax, more than enough to cover our diesel budget.

There are a couple of threads in the archive about choosing a state of domicile for full timers, and how to choose among the seven states with no state income tax.

Yes, we are retired.  We typically "work" 3-4 months out of the year on disaster relief, but we are volunteers.  The Red Cross covers our expenses when we are deployed, though.  And nominally I maintain a consulting practice, but in reality I don't accept much work.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Scott Bennett]

What an ordeal. Glad it's over for now. :-)