I am in a relatively high tax state. It is not as bad as many, but I do still have friends, family and acquaintances that live in those states. I have heard first hand of the NYS tax cops, the Massataxus money police and the stories go on.
If you think you are going to keep some of your money and you have anything like a residence in one of those states, you are mistaken. If you don't like it, move. I don't know if you ever heard of Rush Limbaugh, but he is kind of famous in NY tax circles. He once owned an apartment in NYC. He kept it for convenience, and he paid NY income tax for the time he was there (he had to have lawyers show up before the tax board every year with documents as to why he was only a partial year resident). But, when NY instituted a special tax on everybody with over a 1mill annual income be they full year resident or not, he sold it off and still got dunning notices from NYS. So, now they get nothing from him at all. (This also was the case with 40+ other millionaires. The state is now collecting less than before the special assessment. - Don't you love it??)
We were going to move out of state, but things changed, first they beat up the CRA to juggle the real estate market so our house in now worth less than when we bought it over two decades ago and then the bankruptcy laws were abrogated so it could be fleeced of twenty plus years of savings. Now we are stuck here, but they have nothing more than they can tax. Better than that, I now have the coach on a historic registration - no annual renewal ever (as long as I own it). Ok, I can only drive it for events, shows, and maintenance (except August is open season), but - you know - there are events somewhere in the country(ies) every week of the year and nobody ever said we had to take the shortest route.
Sometimes things do work out OK.
Matt