Originally Posted by StanSeven

Tax rates haven't changed all that much in recent years. Take a look at the charts and adat in this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxatio..._United_States

Many of those examples you cited aren't broken or can't easily be fixed with higher taxes - the performance of public schools keeps going up, higher education costs are skyrocking due to many factors, road maintenance lags because more cars on on the raod and people drive more that cause the surface to deteriorate in half the time, and all the homeless people are seen for many other reasons. Traffic law enforcement produces revenue but isn't increased for other reasons

Many areas do very well with lower personal taxes and make up revenue through other means.

But there are so many more reasons to pick an area for retirment than just lower taxes.