You will be paying though the nose if you choose to retire in Oregon. Forget the great pacific northwest climate and the supposedly natural environmental consequences and concentrate on the real costs of staying or transplanting yourself to Oregon.
The Oregon State Income Tax will Hit you with big bills year after year. If you have a retirement income of say $80,000 a year you will be paying about 11 percent of your income annually over federal income taxes. It could cost you as much as $8800 a year thus for the privilege of spending your retirement and retirement dollars in Oregon. Yes you are exempt from any sales taxes in most of Oregon but if you pay $8800 you would have to spend $110,000 Just across the Columbia River in Vancouver Washington at an approximate 8 percent sales tax to get a bill that high for a year. Add to that much higher property taxes that pay for aggressively failing public schools and bicycle paths than you have to pay in Vancouver Washington and you have terrific savings immediately relocating to a lower taxation region of Washington State. In Portland and Multnomah county among other cities and counties you can be hit by additional sales and income taxes or be force to pay for over budget public libraries that are obsolete since google opened a reference library anywhere you are on earth. You could also end up paying expensive taxes to fund the Oregon Zoo which charges fees on top of the taxes you already pay to sponsor the public facility.
Portland is a horrible place to retire just because of your public water bill alone. You will be charged an absurdly high sewer tax on each and every Portland water bill that can cost more than the water you use to fund a project that is already paid for but now is instead being diverted to pay for million dollars a mile bicycle paths that consist of painted lines on asphalt on congested roads that lead to many bicycle casualties every year.
The State of Oregon feeling they had to add insult to injury introduced a hefty estate tax or death tax depending on what you want to call it. Irrespective of federal estate/ inheritance taxes this could cost you and your spouse between 10 and 16 percent. Each individual may have a 1 million dollar exemption but with the union big government control of the legislature that is surely going to be reduced incrementally in the future so it raises more funding for absolute government waste. Washington State now also has an estate tax to consider but California does not. You can live in a much more livable part of Northern California that is less populated than the I-5 corridor of Oregon with essentially the same or better climate with big savings on a variety of taxes . If you value your independence from the state control of your finances there are many other states to consider than Oregon as your first choice for retirement living.
If you want to believe that higher taxes in Oregon are going to benefit you, the local environment or anything else forget it. The state of oregon is more than 3/4 owned by the Federal Government and the State but most state parks and national federal parks and lands require permit and access fees for any recreational use. You get to see the mountain but often you are not allowed to touch them or drive into them . Increasingly the state and federal ownership of lands increases with government land grab after land grab and your right to access your public lands becomes null. If you are planning to hike in to various areas don't worry they will tow your car away while you are hiking it if does not have a paid parking permit sticker in a window. In Portland they will force you to pay for theaters and charge you a service fee higher than the cost of the play or concert you are going to. So much for public ownership. They build a tram to the hospital and you can ride it down hill for free but it will cost you to ride it up hill even though as a tax payer you paid for the stupid folly. You are a fool to think you won't be taxed two or three times for each and every public works project the big government has in mind for your future. Expect toll bridges to pop up and new taxes on sewer, electric, phone , and water. Beaverton Oregon even has a proposed sex tax to compete with Portland's proposed green lawn tax. The greener your lawn the higher your annual lawn tax maybe. Yes the lawn is greener on the other side here in Oregon and it is not just because it rains a lot. You may consider staying where the grass is browner because that is what you will have to find your self doing sooner or later in Oregon except on golf courses that are now being spray painted perma green because it is more "sustainable". Since this was written taxes have only gone up and faster than the national average. Oregon is getting to be the top taxed state in the nation. wait a few more years and it will be the most expensive taxed state in the country.
