U.S. Poker player's cost of living

[ilya]

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I'd question any website whose information leads you down the path thinking you need about as much money to live in Connecticut as Mississippi.


Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com

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Actually, living in New Haven is extremely cheap.

[Tsushima]

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im not from the U.S. though. over here in the UK we dont pay tax on winnings as im sure you know.

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I have been trying to confirm this because in a few months my current job comes to an end and I am likely to just concentrate on poker (as I am starting to earn more from poker anyway and time at work seems like its just costing me money).

Several people have said to me that poker winnings are tax free in the UK but can this be confirmed anywhere on the Inland Reveue website (or somewhere similar). It would obviously make life considerably easier if I only have to earn half as much as I do now [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

And to push my luck a little further, if I was officially unemployed, do these non-taxable poker winnings actually count as income for purposes of unemployment benefit/income support? i.e. Is winning at poker defined as 'work' or could I sign on for the extra cash and play poker quite legally?

Any advice appreciated.

[Byrn]

Well, hartford may be roughly equal to biloxi if you only consider living inside the city. If you want to live in most of the burbs of hartford, the cost increases quite a bit. Much more so when one gets to your area of the state.

I have no idea about the areas surrounding biloxi, but I have to imagine it is realtively less expensive than say choosing to live in most towns surrounding hartford.

I do agree with your assumption that cost of living is likely much greater in CT than MS, just the data given may not be incorrect in itself.

[david050173]

COL can be deceptive. Somethings are pretty constant value (cost of putting jr through harvard, 401k contributions, cars,...) while other things are relative (houses, taxes,..). Sometimes you can also live differently (in SF you live in a 2/2 condo instead of a 3k sq ft house in vegas) while the calculators assume a more apples to apples comparision.

And as far as I know professionals in canda have to pay taxes on winnings. Cost of living in the cities is about the same. And heck even without income taxes, the VAT on some products is insane [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Mystic]

All poker winnings are treated the same as any gambling winnings in the UK. It is all tax free.

However, if solely playing online, I wouldnt recommend moving to the UK. Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand spring to mind. Cost of living is cheaper in all of these countries too. And the weather is infinitely better, as is the food, the women, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

[Mystic]

£100,000 ($200,000) in Brazil buys you this:-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai...;chnl=overseas

In London, the same amount secures you this -

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai...y&chnl=buy

Where would you rather be?

I don't know what the tax situation is for an American residing in Brazil, but, if the alternative is London, then who cares!

[Rudbaeck]

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£100,000 ($200,000) in Brazil buys you this:-


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A beach side mansion. *slowly rolls the phrase over his tongue* Now this looks perky!

[burningyen]

Wow.

[cowboyzfan]

But again, a couple of times on these boards people have said that Americans who reside abroad must pay taxes on gambling winnings, as opposed to basically any other type of income. I don't see the logic in this at all. I wish someone could debunk this once and for all or give us the bad news and dash our dreams of living in some exotic locale (or London [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ), dragging the occasional pot, and paying no tax (legally, only first 80,000 exempt)

Of course someone could just ask Hilger since he lived in New Zealand and played poker for a living.

[Rudbaeck]

Hilger mentions in his book that he did make the 80k deduction.