Excellent questions mate! Yes, people to take into consideration the various laws in effect in each state when deciding where to live. Retired folks like to go to Florida to escape the state taxes they would otherwise have to pay. Also, the rich & famous, like O.J. Simpson move to Florida to take advantage of their bankruptcy laws. You can move to Florida and file bankruptcy and keep damn near everything you own. Many other states require you to sell everything you own to pay back as many creditors as possible after exempting a few things here & there. The same thing holds true of taxes in various cities within a state. For example, I live in Chicago and often go to a petrol station outside the city limits to avoid the city tax and get cheaper gas. Forum shopping is a common thing in the states. As far as salaries in the states.......those states that are heavily unionized tend to have much higher salaries than those where unions are not the norm. A lot of your southern states look upon unions as pariahs that do nothing but drive up operating costs. A lot of your northern states are heavy union states and the unions don't allow the "discrimination" that sometimes occurs down south. We do have a federal minimum wage, which is still NOT a livable wage, no matter where one lives. Most folks who have minimum wage jobs work 2-3 different jobs just to make ends meet. Or they have to get a roommate or husband, etc.. to split costs. That's why you will see a LOT of unskilled immigrants living with several other families under one roof. They simply can't afford their own place to live on a minimum wage salary. One thing that I should mention though is that even though salaries tend to be much higher in certain places, it doesn't always equate to a better standard of living. For example, I pay $2,100.00 a month for a 2 bedroom loft in the city of chicago. For that same money, I could have a brand new 5,000 square foot home on an acre of land in some other places where the salaries are lower. Generally, where the salaries are lower, the standard of living tends to be lower as well and your money goes farther. Hopefully someone else can explain it if my post is too confusing. Michelle
Michelle, your explanation is excellent! In Pennsylvania our minimum wage is $7.15. In Pittsburgh you would make $7.15 an hour to work in a store at the mall, or a McDonald's or a grocery store. Housing costs are lower in Pittsburgh than say New York.
:lol: OMGosh! A house divided! Humm.....what can I say.....you know how to pick your men!!! :lol: Go COCKS! Michelle (1985 USC Grad-Criminal Justice Major)
Cheers for the reply. Basically the same as over here then, lower paid area's = lower standad of living and lower housing costs as opposed to the more affluent area's where top coin is paid in salaries..... and then taken straight back out of the bank in the form of the mortgage payments due to inflated housing cost in said area's. Ian :lol: Ian :lol:
Our minimum wage is like $5.85.. It is suppose to go up around a dollar in July I think.. That's what I make an hour, and yeah, it sucks, cause i'm spending it all in gas money.
Looks like on July 24, 2008 your salary will be bumped up to $6.55 per hour at a minimum. That's still not enough to do anything with...... Even if they passed a law that said anyone making the federal minimum wage is excused from paying federal taxes, you'd still be making pennies. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/ Hopefully you can get a better paying job soon. Michelle
