[Overpaid Slacker]

I love Syracuse. It's home; and it would be one of the boomingest (tm) cities around if it were anywhere other than strapped to the stifling NYS tax/regulatory stone. However, my hatred for New York State today surpassed my love for the 'Cuse. I've lived in NYC, on Long Island and upstate and there's no escape as long as I'm in this benighted neo-socialist petri dish.

So, I'm done with this state and its pestering nanny policies. Evidently I'm not alone, as NYS is losing more people than just about any other state (MI and MA lead NY, I think ... hmmmm; also Liberal nanny-states... coincidence?). I'm not going to bear an increasing share of the burden for social-experiments-without-accountability (and NYC) because others are skedaddling and thus pro-rating their burdens onto me. I'm done.

Anyway, I'm thinking about TN, KY, NC or maybe VA. But I need to stay away from the over-popular, ridiculously infested trendy regions where the roads are mobbed and everything is a strip mall (NOVA, I'm looking at you).

I could go just about anywhere, but as long as I'm going, I figure I want to be able to use the toys 10-ish months a year and do not want to swelter all summer. Can't do the surreal, unending flatness of the midwest... it makes me psychotic.

Does anybody know a good resource for comparing various states' tax systems, state policies, gun laws, etc.? It's time, as we say in the legal biz, to forum shop.

I'd appreciate whatever insight/experience you've got. Thanks in advance.

JP