Posted on 01/25/2020 1:25:23 PM PST by karpov
Property taxes alone on my home in TX would be enough to buy a home in most rural communities in the south. I love Texas and it’s home but there’s a dark side to the state.
I agree, the sales tax is obnoxious. That’s why I head over to Virginia or North Carolina for shopping, it’s just over the border for us.
Every state has to have some way of making revenue. Unless you are Nevada and you have gambling. They might be the best state in the country, tax wise.
Other than that, I guess everybody has to decide what type of state tax they can contend with. Every situation is different. My husband likes cars, so having a low vehicle registration is awesome. I’m not having a personal property tax, like West Virginia has. No wonder we saw so many clunkers on the road there.
I prefer a sales tax to an income tax. At least you’re not taxed on your savings.
Isn’t just the interest earned on savings taxed? Though I don’t think the interest should be taxed either.
Texas real estate taxes are rather high, tho they don’t have State income tax. They are growing so fast that infrastructure building costs and public school construction/operation costs are soaring. My son moved to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area a few years ago. He bought a home in Texas and got more than twice the home for the money as in Illinois. His current home is valued at about $300K and his annual real estate taxes are about $12K. Anyone who puts Texas down just doesn’t know what theya re talking about. It is a wonderful place to live and work. Don’t mess with Texas. My son’s neighbors are Chuck Norris and Donald Driver.
Yes, TN has to have some way to get revenue, so guess they have to get it in sales tax. Would be interesting to read an easy-to-understand comparison of how the whole thing weighs out...high sales tax with no state income tax vs. lower sales tax with state income tax. Does it end up being pretty much the same situation for the average joe?
Another tax which can really affect families is the high lodging tax. Those reasonable hotel room rates suddenly get too expensive with 14.25% tax applied. For families trying to enjoy even a brief vacation, the cost can be too much.
You can’t get an ag exemption unless you have about 10 acres and put livestock on it-and it isn’t a big tax break unless you have a pretty good-sized operation-it wasn’t meant for those of us who are just preppers, off griders and other people who just want to be self sustaining-most of us have less than 10 acres here...
Actually, it's had the effect of 'un-redistributing' income.
I have a nice place in Las Vegas taxes 750 a year
“Actually, it’s had the effect of ‘un-redistributing’ income”
I agree, the red states are no longer subsidizing the blue states, who got an unfair tax deduction because the state reps they voted in couldn’t handle their money well.
“Anyone who puts Texas down just doesn’t know what theya re talking about.”
I was born and raised there, and moved back for a few years. Sorry if you can’t handle the truth (channeling my inner Nicholson). Property taxes in the cities are high. Why pretend otherwise?
For retirees also, not taxing SS could be good. But Tennessee does tax investment income. It isn t a one size fits all scenario, that’s for sure!
Lodging is interesting, too. And Virgina has a really high restaurant tax. We shop there, but done at until we get back to Tennessee, lol!
Oh, I thought it was easier than that. It was hard to find over 10 acres in Tennessee too. So many family lots have been subdivided repeatedly. We got a green belt exemption for having over 15 acres and not subdividing or building on it. Our taxes went from $1600 A year to under $1200.
BUT the nicest thing is that the ladies working in the tax assessors office are SO nice!!! We were used to the bitter mean employees of California that didn’t want anyone getting a tax break. They did usca favor by letting us pay without a penalty. The sweet Southern ladies here told us about the tax exemption, gave us the forms to apply, were overly apologetic because we missed the deadline for the year. But somehow when we got the tax bill, the exemption had been applied! I love the people here. I have to leave my house 5-10 minutes early because just waving to a neighbor isn’t enough, one must stop and chat. And I have to be patient in the grocery store, because the clerk has to find out how the lady in fronts granddaughter is doing, then the next customer’s mother, etc. My first trip to the store got me the address of a place for sale that was down the road from where the checker lived. So cute :)
Was supposed to be “don’t eat”...
“What part of the country?”
Colorado or Colofornia.
Along with inheritance taxes, progressive taxation and any form or personal property taxes.
Yes, there are rich Dems in California, specifically in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. They are the most visible but not the most numerous type of Dim. They may get all the attention but the average California Demonrat is a Millennial with student loan debt who likely will never own his/her own home, let alone a mansion with armed security guards like the Hollywood types have.
Here in cesspool NJ,property taxes buy us bad schools,bad government as our property values go down.
..TX is the land of my birth, and my heart will always be there, but we just couldn’t afford the property taxes. Still got out of CA —thank heaven...
Colorado and CA??
Well....that makes sense!
Glad you didn’t say Texas :-)
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