Is it better to live in a state with no income tax? It's a great question to ask -- especially while you pore over tax forms this year. Seven U.S. states currently don't have an income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. And residents of New Hampshire and Tennessee are also spared from handing over an extra chunk of their paycheck on April 15, though they do pay tax on dividends and income from investments.
The 9,800 troops in Afghanistan are just a fraction of the U.S. military across the globe. President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the U.S. will maintain the current number of troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016, decreasing to 5,500 by the end of next year, instead of removing most military personnel by the end of his presidency.
Yet during 2002 and 2003, the average number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan never topped 10,400. That means the U.S. forces left in country following the war will top the number fighting there during its first two years. A total of 3,485 allied troops died in Afghanistan over the past 13 years, including 2,356 Americans.