Sunday,

I guess you haven't visited the region that I call home and Fred and Kay are soon-to-be up-the-road neighbors.

Low Taxes.

We have in place a tax payer's bill of rights (TABOR) in Colorado. It was voted into the CO state constitution a few years back. Any tax increase, and this includes everything down to increased fees for stuff like camping or fishing permits, must be put to a vote of the people whom the increase would affect. When a bond issue is floated on a local election and it passes, the taxing entities that hit a homeowner have to adjust their mill levies to not increase the tax burden to the homeowners. The same avenues are available to those entities who want to be exempted from the TABOR requirements, but again, such exemptions must be voted upon and approved by a majority of those affected in a specific jurisdiction.

ANY surplus tax collections must be given back to those who payed them. I received bonus state tax refunds in 2000 and 2001 because the state took in more money than it could legally spend.

Location, location, location!

I've lived here 38 years. I've made a point of just getting in the car and driving into the mountains without a predetermined destination, just went exploring. I could keep doing that for another 38 years and not run out of new favorite places to add to an already very long list!

The cost of housing in CA vs CO. No contest. 200-300k will buy a new house here larger than you'd ever need or use.

Bob