Maryland or Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Where would you recommend young professionals looking to raise a family live in the DMV? Looking for single family community with good/great schools. Hoping to spend less than $1.2M. Raised in Montgomery County but concerned with changes/ direction in the county. Not as familiar with Virginia communities. Commute to DC several days a week. Appreciate your thoughts and any insights.

[Anonymous]

Virginia is changing for the worse. The new governor has proposed tons of new taxes. The reason for the new taxes is that there's no job growth -- Amazon is shedding employees like crazy, as are other major employers like Nestle. And Virginia lost more jobs because of the federal downsizing than Maryland. Virginia has bet heavily on data centers in an attempt to tun things around, but those employ very few people and are incredibly ugly.

[Anonymous]

Maryland all the way, past present and future

[Anonymous]

Virginia is about to add a whole heap of new taxes on just about everything, including things like all home deliveries including food deliveries, uber, dog walking/grooming/pet care, all digital content including streaming, apps, subscriptions and video games, all home repairs and home improvements, all grooming and self care including haircuts/manicures/wellness, all entertainment including kids activities and gyms, etc, etc

Virginia is also raising the state income tax to the highest in the nation, higher than California, as well as adding taxes to all investment income.

There are a few more taxes that Virginia is adding. The list is too long to write. The new taxes are on everythi g that anyone spends money on.

I never thought I would ever say this, but if you are choosing, strongly consider Maryland.

In a couple of weeks, Virginia is set to become the highest taxed state in the United States, higher than California. Only a fool would move to Virginia voluntarily right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is changing for the worse. The new governor has proposed tons of new taxes. The reason for the new taxes is that there's no job growth -- Amazon is shedding employees like crazy, as are other major employers like Nestle. And Virginia lost more jobs because of the federal downsizing than Maryland. Virginia has bet heavily on data centers in an attempt to tun things around, but those employ very few people and are incredibly ugly.

They are also adding a TON of new spending.

[Anonymous]

I would not choose to commute across any local bridge. Live on the same side of the river as work and school.

Maybe there is an exception if one takes MetroRail to/from work.

[Anonymous]

Virginia. MD has become irrelevant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is about to add a whole heap of new taxes on just about everything, including things like all home deliveries including food deliveries, uber, dog walking/grooming/pet care, all digital content including streaming, apps, subscriptions and video games, all home repairs and home improvements, all grooming and self care including haircuts/manicures/wellness, all entertainment including kids activities and gyms, etc, etc

Virginia is also raising the state income tax to the highest in the nation, higher than California, as well as adding taxes to all investment income.

There are a few more taxes that Virginia is adding. The list is too long to write. The new taxes are on everythi g that anyone spends money on.

I never thought I would ever say this, but if you are choosing, strongly consider Maryland.

In a couple of weeks, Virginia is set to become the highest taxed state in the United States, higher than California. Only a fool would move to Virginia voluntarily right now.

Maryland already has all these taxes

[Anonymous]

We love Arlington. It’s closer to our jobs than the MD suburbs (or our previous home in DC) we are generally happy with the schools and like the fact that it is a smaller school system. Plus if $$$$ is an issue at all, you have access to better in state options for college than in MD (UMD is great but VA has more strong options). Going over a bridge is really a non issue for me and I live a short walk to the orange line.

There seem to be some people freaking out about Spanberger but my taxes are currently lower in VA than they would be in MD. If you have multiple expensive cars, I guess that might not be true.

[Anonymous]

I have lived in both...shrug. Choose based on your commute and neighborhood preference. I live in MD and have to say when I have to drive to VA, the tolling system makes me tense ..which lane? Do I have to pay? How much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is about to add a whole heap of new taxes on just about everything, including things like all home deliveries including food deliveries, uber, dog walking/grooming/pet care, all digital content including streaming, apps, subscriptions and video games, all home repairs and home improvements, all grooming and self care including haircuts/manicures/wellness, all entertainment including kids activities and gyms, etc, etc

Virginia is also raising the state income tax to the highest in the nation, higher than California, as well as adding taxes to all investment income.

There are a few more taxes that Virginia is adding. The list is too long to write. The new taxes are on everythi g that anyone spends money on.

I never thought I would ever say this, but if you are choosing, strongly consider Maryland.

In a couple of weeks, Virginia is set to become the highest taxed state in the United States, higher than California. Only a fool would move to Virginia voluntarily right now.

Only if your income 1M+ and even then, it is almost the same as MD tax + MOCO tax

[Anonymous]

Those freaking out about Va taxes, are simply catastrophizing. Unless you make more than 600,000 per year when the first new marginal tax rate begins or more than 1 million per year where the second new marginal rate kicks in, you will be largely unaffected by this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those freaking out about Va taxes, are simply catastrophizing. Unless you make more than 600,000 per year when the first new marginal tax rate begins or more than 1 million per year where the second new marginal rate kicks in, you will be largely unaffected by this.

Well, we've always been told that VA is much better if you have a very high income, so now that advantage will be gone. If you're not a very high earner, the difference between MD and VA has never been very significant, because VA has the car tax, the grocery tax, and crazy restaurant taxes, plus VA has toll roads everywhere especially for people like OP who have budgets that make them like further out.

[Anonymous]

Va for the public elementary and secondary schools and college. But I am concerned about Spanberger and future taxing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lived in both...shrug. Choose based on your commute and neighborhood preference. I live in MD and have to say when I have to drive to VA, the tolling system makes me tense ..which lane? Do I have to pay? How much?

I live in Virginia and feel that way about the speed cameras in Maryland. Lol. (And I'm not even a speeder!)