A FEW YEARS back I researched places I might choose to live. This excluded Utah, where I now live, which kills me with state income tax every year. I have a retirement income that I earned in Florida which Utah now taxes. This infuriates me, especially since I cannot name one single benefit that accrues to me as a result of this (other than being able to live in Utah, of course).

So the idea of living in a state without an income tax (like Florida) crosses my mind every now and then. Tennessee has a limited state income tax and I've read things about Chattanooga that make it sound attractive to me. Then, in the middle of all this, my sister moved to Chattanooga! I had not counseled her on this. She did her own research. Now she discreetly continues to remind me how much she likes it there. She has three primary selling points.

The first, naturally, is that she's there. She and I have rarely lived in the same area and being able to see each other regularly would be nice.

Secondly, I have been a Dodger fan since their days in Brooklyn and they happen to have a farm club there -- the Chattanooga Lookouts. I could see myself getting season tickets to the 70 home games.

Thirdly, Chattanooga has close to 20 Krystal restaurants! I could pig out on Krystal burgers every other day for the rest of my life. Utahns wouldn't know a Krystal from a crystal. I remember eating the Fifties south Florida version of Krystals -- Royal Castle burgers -- when they cost 15 cents each. For another 5 cents, you could wash it down with a birch beer.

There are additional factors, of course. Access to decent medical care, proximity to relatives, & weather issues to name three. Then there are the "competing" factors, the reasons we like being where we are. It is a quandary we will eventually have to resolve.