Yes, Xara is not free, so GIMP/Inkscape has one over on it there, however, in my experience if inexpensive software is powerful and easy to use, even more powerful and easy than free applications its worth a look. As far as that goes, try Xara for 30 days (free trial) and compare to using Inkscape and/or GIMP.

I'm not getting overly excited, my last post was simply a response at the suggestion that a vector program is somehow not as easy to use a drawing tablet as raster applications, and there's really no truth to that whatsoever. Again, I've used a drawing tablet with GIMP, Photoshop, and Xara. Experience tells me which is faster and easier, and try the free trial download and learn the same yourself - don't take my word on it.