Would You Move To Washington, DC, If It Made You Exempt From Federal Income Tax?

[BPSCG]

Washington, DC's license plates say "Taxation Without Representation" at the bottom, a protest against DC's having no congressmen or senators.

One suggestion for righting this claimed injustice is to exempt DC residents from federal income tax. This would not require a constitutional amendment (whereas granting congressional representation would); it would simply require a law passed by the Congress and signed by the President.

Without getting into the rights and wrongs of DC representation (that's another thread), would you move to DC if it meant you had no representative in Congress, but also didn't have to write a check to Uncle Sam on April 15?

[Puppycow]

I would still have to weigh pros and cons, but it would certainly be a big plus in the pro column.

ETA: The problem with such a policy is that presumably a lot of people would want to move to DC (or at least make it their legal residence even if they didn't actually live there) to take advantage of the tax exemption. This would drive up real estate prices, and what you save in taxes you might have to pay in higher housing costs.

[rwguinn]

I had to use the Planet X option.
Because I have been to DC. I worked at NRL for 3 months, and it would take a quite large sum of money to entice me to live there.
More, even, than what it would take to move me to California...

[dirtywick]

Most of DC is pretty awful. Don't they have a massive sales tax there anyway? Cost of living is high?

Besides, with all these tax credits, I'd probably be losing money not paying taxes.

[fishbob]

My congressional representation is a flaming nitwit who I most certainly do not cherish.
But I still wouldn't move to DC for any amount of tax reduction.

[BPSCG]

My congressional representation is a flaming nitwit who I most certainly do not cherish.
But I still wouldn't move to DC for any amount of tax reduction.Is that because you don't pay that much in taxes to begin with? Or is it because you think DC is a gawdawful place to live?

Or both?

[PitPat]

My tax burden would have to be considerably higher to even entertain it, in fact high enough that I literally couldn't afford living in the region. Finding a job, leaving behind family and friends with whom I've spent years cultivating relationships, missing the natural beauty of my region sounds terribly unappealing. If I were already living within about 30 miles of DC anyway, maybe.

Nah, I'll just go ahead and write my annual check -- as a sole reason for uprooting it's a pretty overkill reaction. Not that I love paying taxes, but they are necessary though poorly appropriated...besides, I'd have to stop bitching about where my tax dollars were going and that's just way too fun.

[technoextreme]

Without getting into the rights and wrongs of DC representation (that's another thread), would you move to DC if it meant you had no representative in Congress, but also didn't have to write a check to Uncle Sam on April 15?
Would I move to a city with such an atrocious crime rate that they had to implement curfews at one point? Hell no.

[cwalner]

I would never live in a city that would re-elect a mayor convicted of drug charges.

A city that considers mafia ties and addiction to gin a positive attribute in its mayor on the other hand I am all in favor of.

[KingMerv00]

Increase my income by 15-30%? Yes please.

[technoextreme]

Increase my income by 15-30%? Yes please.
Your funeral.

[joobz]

I said no, becuase it would be a long commute to kentucky.

[Marquis de Carabas]

Your funeral.
But it will be a really nice funeral with all the extra money.

[Texas]

I can't imagine any liberal moving to DC to avoid Federal income taxes.

[joobz]

I can't imagine any liberal moving to DC to avoid Federal income taxes.
Can you imagine a republican texan moving to DC to avoid Fed tax?

[BPSCG]

Can you imagine a republican texan moving to DC to avoid Fed tax?Mrs. BPSCG isn't a Republican - she's the only true moderate I know - but she's originally from Dallas. I told her about this poll and asked her.

"I'd live there even without representation and paying tax. I love DC."

[rwguinn]

I can't imagine any liberal moving to DC to avoid Federal income taxes.
They don't pay 'em anyway, less'n they gits nombinated for the Cabinet...

[rwguinn]

Mrs. BPSCG isn't a Republican - she's the only true moderate I know - but she's originally from Dallas. I told her about this poll and asked her.

"I'd live there even without representation and paying tax. I love DC."
Either you or MRS BPSCG have ignored Murphy's 22nd law:
"Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself"
Depending on point of view, One of you is a loon...:D

[BPSCG]

Either you or MRS BPSCG have ignored Murphy's 22nd law:
"Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself"
Depending on point of view, One of you is a loon...:DYou say one of us is a loon.

Interesting...

[Texas]

Can you imagine a republican texan moving to DC to avoid Fed tax?
I am against taxes anywhere but at least in Texas we have no state income tax. As to moving to DC under any circumstance....not a chance.

[joobz]

Mrs. BPSCG isn't a Republican - she's the only true moderate I know - but she's originally from Dallas. I told her about this poll and asked her.

"I'd live there even without representation and paying tax. I love DC."
I was thereabouts last week. Stayed with my brother in middletown and went to arlington for a workshop.

It's a crazy place. It seems to ooze political influence.

[linusrichard]

I'd have to balance it against increased cost of living, change in income, etc.

I've never yet had to write a check to Uncle Sam on April 15th - I get a check every year. I know this doesn't mean I don't pay federal income taxes, but it makes the incentive less strong.

Basically, if I find a good job in D.C., I will move there, and if I don't, I won't, whatever the federal tax situation is.

[KingMerv00]

Your funeral.

Oh no. My vote which counts (sorta) is not being counted. Wah.

[fishbob]

Is that because you don't pay that much in taxes to begin with? Or is it because you think DC is a gawdawful place to live?

Or both?

1 - I have no problem with paying my fair share of taxes.

2 - Last time I was in DC was during the Reagan term, it was about this time of year. I left the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History at quitting time. The sidewalks rolled up, everybody disappeared by a few minutes after 5. I was walking toward the subway and noticed a big pile of garbage bags on one of those brick vaults on the lawn of some Justice Department building - the vault was about 15 feet square and must have had something to do with building ventilation. As I got closer, I noticed shopping carts mixed in with the garbage bags. As I passed by, I noticed arms and legs sticking out between the garbage bags and the shopping carts.
A big pile of homeless people settled in for the night.

Even boondock hicksburg Anchorage Alaska has a nightlife and homeless shelters.

[The Painter]

"Taxation Without Representation"

Well, lets see, my congressman is a jackass named Steve Israel, my senators are Chuck E "Cheese" Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand (Hillary's replacement). I haven't been represented in years, and I pay a boatload of taxes in NY. Would I move? You bet, as long as I can bring my guns.

I would never live in a city that would re-elect a mayor convicted of drug charges.

Now why is that? This just proves that he is truly a man of the people.

[BPSCG]

1 - I have no problem with paying my fair share of taxes.No, that wasn't what I was getting at. If you don't have a very high tax bill to begin with, moving to DC to escape federal taxes might not be such a good deal.

2 - Last time I was in DC was during the Reagan term, it was about this time of year. I left the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History at quitting time. The sidewalks rolled up, everybody disappeared by a few minutes after 5. I was walking toward the subway and noticed a big pile of garbage bags on one of those brick vaults on the lawn of some Justice Department building - the vault was about 15 feet square and must have had something to do with building ventilation. As I got closer, I noticed shopping carts mixed in with the garbage bags. As I passed by, I noticed arms and legs sticking out between the garbage bags and the shopping carts.
A big pile of homeless people settled in for the night.

Even boondock hicksburg Anchorage Alaska has a nightlife and homeless shelters.DC has homeless shelters. And I guarantee you Anchorage also has people sleeping on the streets.

And the reason the DC streets you saw had rolled-up sidewalks is because you were in the museum and monuments and government buildings core of the city. For entertainment, there's Georgetown, Chinatown (pro basketball and hockey), the Kennedy Center (performing arts), Adams-Morgan, Capitol Hill... I could go on.

[roger]

DC is an awesome place to live. Just don't live by the museums, and don't live where families of 8 live in a $125/month rental. I lived there before, I'd live there again.

Yes, living expenses are high. On the other hand, you can walk to your grocery store. There are free concerts, free talks, free exhibitions any night you choose. World class minds are passing through all the time, giving talks. It's still a small city - none of the anonymity of a NYC. A large number of immigrants - you don't have quite the restaurant and food selection of a NYC, but it is close, and you can do it without a cab ride through clogged up streets, or a stinky subway ride. DC has trees, tons of trees. If you were in the museum district, you didn't see them. Broad, quiet, tree lined streets. DC is filled with do-gooders. People genuinely trying to make both the city, and the world, a better place. Neighborhoods are active. There are large parks. They close off large sections of street on the weekend so bicyclists can ride whee they want. Bike paths will get you to some cool places. There are even some unadvertised hiking trails. In the spring life bursts forth. People take their gardening seriously, and the neighborhoods are overbursting with life and color. The melting pot aspect of DC means you can rub elbows with somebody with 5 graduate degrees at a embassy concert at night, then you can go out and chat with illegal construction workers at a dive-y salvadoran restaurant (where you probably get better food than at the embassy) the next day. You can sit in a cafe and listen to the next table discuss a reform proposal occuring in France, instead of discussing what happenend on Survivor last night, or who Sally is sleeping with. You can go to the Dupont Circle and play chess, listen to the drummers, lie on the grass and play with dogs. You have a dozen really good bookstores (no great ones - like Powells or The Strand) nearby. You can take a date to a nice restaurant, then walk along the canal. Take a moonlit walk by the monuments and feel genuine awe at what the country's founders set up. You're a 20 minute train ride away from National Airport, and a quick weekend getaway. DC is a college town: Georgetown, American, GW, Howard, etc., which means its a youthful town, and full of libraries (yes, sometimes the college libraries have books the Library of Congress doesn't! I split my time between the LOC and college libraries when I was doing my writing). There's the LOC!!!! No JREFer should underestimate having that resource available to you. On weekends you can play street hockey in front of the White House. Sometimes the town is flooded with 1/2 million people over some protest or another. Sometimes the town is deserted on the weekends and you have it to yourself. A short car trip gets you to: dozens of civil war battlefields, horsey country, farmland, the mountains, skiing (admittedly frumpy hills), the ocean, dozens of state parks, birding destinations. There are two decent rock climbing places nearby, and 3-5 hours away are world class destinations: Seneca and New River Gorge. DC has world class white water kayaking - many Olympian kayakers live and train there, not to mention canoeists. Interested in film: the Smithsonian has probably the best film program in the world, for free. The Smithsonian! The Kennedy Center - hang out at a cafe overlooking the potomoc waiting for an afternoon show, see a show, then stroll into Georgetown to sightsee. There's water everywhere - open ocean, protected bays, tons of streams and ponds.

Then there are East Coast salaries. I moved to CO, but am telecommuting with my DC area job. If I have to get a new job here, I'd probably take at least a 30K pay cut. Wunky is looking more in the 30-50K range. And that's just salary - let's not forget the added value things like 401K contributions and such makes.

I never once got shot at there, nor has anyone I know.

I moved here for the big mountains, and don't miss the traffic, but there is a lot to recommend the place if you like ideas, culture, resources, and yes, the occasional frisson of people of very different socioeconomic status living together.

[Thunder]

I like paying taxes. That way we can pay for more useless wars.