I was reading a story last week about a guy who had a rug his grandma left him and he had it appraised and found out it worth millions, it was some rare Navaho rug from the 1800s and he ended up selling it for $1.5 million. He said he thought all his financial problems were solved until he found out all the taxes he would have to pay in California. He said he would have been broke in a few years so he ended up moving out of state. I was like is this guy kiddin me? It’s THAT bad in California?? No wonder there’s homeless all over LA!
The last California taxes my wife and I plan to pay will be the capital gains on the sale of our house before we move out of state.
California is a conundrum.
I’ve visited many, many times on business and otherwise, but I live about as far away as possible - my closest “different place” is Quebec.
Parts are still nice. SF bay is still beautiful.
But two trends are obvious to a visitor:
First, the signs. Everywhere. “The State of California has determined that soup causes cancer (joke)”. But seriously. Who keeps putting up all these idiotic signs, and why?
Second, the explosion of the underclass. What on earth do the people in Pacific Heights make of this? When I lived in Central Brooklyn in the 1970s it felt like a war zone, normal people were under siege, something had to be done and eventually was (Rudy).If I had a gorgeous Victorian with a nice view of the Bay, getting hassled every time I went to start my car and having to put a vintage NYC 1970s “No radio” sign in the window would make me crazy. How do teh people now running California deal with this?