I believe that CA still allows the full deduction of SALT, unlike the Feds after the 2017 Tax Cut and Recovery Act.
Well, you obviously can't deduct the S portion of SALT, as you'd be deducting CA taxes from themselves. But I definitely write off things like property taxes and car registration fees on my CA taxes.
Calif doesn't have too many deductions any longer - and I was initially talking about just the standard deduction plus exemption not itemizing - so wouldn't matter. In my case I have very low "taxable" income and haven't paid fed or CA state taxes since FIREing other then for house sale purposes. But it seemed that my taxable income was several thousand above the standard deduction plus exemption amount.
Does that mean you are on MediCAL?
Nope. I can use the VA for free/low cost medical because I have a military service connected disability. I also get some tax-free compensation for that ($630/month) that I don't need to include as income for taxes but would probably be used for MediCAL (Medicaid) calculations. Plus some already-taxed (Roth) investments within my state pension that I started tapping at 50. Before that mostly cash/laddered CDs. My current total income this past year will be exactly $30k but since I didn't travel much and have been car-free the whole year beside occasional rentals, I used less than half that amount. Most, maybe all, isn't taxable (yay).
Interesting - so does that mean are you just not covered if you travel within the US to somewhere that doesn't have a VA facility nearby?
Living in CA off $30k per year would certainly becomes drastically easier when one has no need to purchase health insurance, a non-taxed pension, and lives primairly off investment income and Roth accounts rather than wages...also if one purchased RE decades ago, that would help quite a bit too.
When I said I couldn't live off $30k per year in CA if I bought real estate, that's because, right now, a mortgage + HOA + property taxes for a 1BR that wasn't built 100 years ago, is pretty much $30k on the real estate alone. Hence I won't be buying when i move back to CA, but I'll still probably be spending at least $20k/yr easily on rent, and probably another $20k on life. That doesn't include income taxes or retirement savings of course.
Life is much cheaper when you are not working though...unless you need health insurance and are pre-medicare age and have too much investment or retirement income to qualify for the ACA tax credits.