Nevada: Tax Haven of the West

Real estate industry disruptor Redfin labels Nevada a "tax haven of the West" in its recent article discussing U.S. internal migration trends and the reasons behind them:

[P]eople in expensive, high-tax coastal markets including San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. searched for homes in metros like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami, where taxes are lower and housing is more affordable ....

Las Vegas, another low-tax haven, had the highest share of non-local searches. Forty-one percent of the people searching for homes in Las Vegas were searching from outside the metro area. Nearly 40 percent of these inbound searches originated in Los Angeles, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area (12%), Portland, Oregon (8%), and Seattle (5%). The influx of new residents to the area is causing prices and competition to accelerate. Median home prices in Las Vegas rose by 11 percent in July year over year, marking 17 months in a row of double-digit price growth.

“Affordability definitely plays a role in home searchers considering Las Vegas as their new home city,” said Nicole Lazarski, a Redfin agent in Las Vegas. “Even though home prices are climbing fast, they have still not returned to their 2007 height. With a median sale price around $270,000 in July, plus Nevada’s low property taxes and lack of a state income tax, it’s a very attractive place for people looking to leave California and other expensive places.”

In Las Vegas, the typical homeowner pays $1,500 (0.8%) in property taxes and about 8 percent in local sales taxes, with no state income tax, whereas in Los Angeles, the respective amounts are $3,600 (0.8%) property taxes, about 9 percent sales tax rate, and 8 percent state income tax rate.

Migration to Low-Tax Metros is Accelerating as More People Looked to Leave Expensive Coastal Areas in the Second Quarter by Alina Ptaszynski, Redfin.com, September 12, 2018