My wife and I moved from north Texas to Baltimore last year because of a job opportunity. While I agree that high sales taxes are very regressive and unfair to those with lower incomes, the addition of a state income tax has been painful. Plus, even with lower a sales tax, we have found that groceries, restaurants, gasoline and utilities are much more expensive in Maryland.
Compared to Texas, housing in Maryland is through the roof. We are paying twice as much in rent for our 10.5 foot wide rowhouse than we did for a mortgage on a large suburban house north of Dallas. The reason for the cheap housing in Texas is partially availabilty of land, as mentioned above. However, the biggest factor is uncontrolled growth. In Maryland, it seems like authorities consider whether an area has enough resources (road, school, health, power and water capacity) before they allow new construction. In Texas, virtually any undeveloped land is fair game for builders. There is little regard for the increased demand on resources, hence the awful traffic and annual water restrictions. This is incredibly apparent if you take off from BWI airport and fly to DFW. When you take off from BWI, you see lots of forest with patches of development. When you land at DFW, you see nothing but developed land for hundreds of square miles.
I do miss my parents, friends and the low cost of living in Texas. However, I don’t miss the lack of culture, or being surrounded by Bible-beating Republicans.