Posted on 02/06/2010 4:27:06 PM PST by fujimoh
The company that I work for changed service organizations for payroll. When I got my W-2 I found out that the city I live in taxes ALL tax deferred income which is not what the State of Ohio does. It pissed me off and when I called them, the city, they laughed at me. YES laughed at me! I told them that I was going to move and they laughed harder …
So, last Saturday I found an old farm house in a small Ohio – population 3,100 – no city tax! I contacted all government offices (Post Office, IRS, Driver's License) to report my change of address, took out an insurance policy on the house, signed the papers on the 1st of February and it is tootie-fanootie, down-the-road, and finished business!
I called the city Tuesday morning to inquire about my tax account and they were oh so pleasant with me – for the simple fact that I have a high paying job. I told them that I would be sending my tax return on Wednesday morning and they said that they would notate my account. I said, ‘While you are notating my account, notate that I have a change of address.’ When I gave them the street address, they asked where that was and I told them the town. DEAD SILENCE! I broke the silence telling them that they should not have ever touched my 401k money! Total satisfaction for me!
What I found interesting is that many of the people that I work with that live here did not know this. The city has been bombarded with calls about taxing 401k money and I bet you ten bucks that they know EXACTLY who has been spreading the word. Two people have followed my lead and have been looking for another residence, but in the meantime, they have changed their address with the city so that they are no longer taxed. The only problem is that they really don’t live at the residence reported so that they can be charged with tax evasion. I hope that they find a new place soon.
It may have cost me considerably more to move than to pay the tax to the city, but I figure it is the principal. It's TAX DEFERRED income!
As of late, the city is competing with small business and charging for services such as to unlock your car. The business are in an uproar. They are about to tax for every service and I suspect inquiries to your various city accounts are going to cost $10 a pop. What I see as a huge problem is that they took stimulus money to redo a road in the downtown that did not need correcting. They erected monstrosities of walk zones and flashing lights and pricey light posts. In all, they took $12 million to do a road and a small bridge and the JOBS are over with for these projects!
In a small city with a population of 15,000 that really only has a small college taking $12 MILLION DOLLARS does not have the means to pay back this money. I predict that they will double their city taxes for 2011 since they are doing so incrementally by charging fees. There is currently a HUGE drug problem in this city and these idiots don't realize that by raising taxes, they will keep the drug problem and lose the quality residents.
The koolaid has not worn off of many of the residents here and when they do it will be too late. You can already see the deterioration around town; their property will be worthless.
Thank you all for letting me vent my frustration and small victory.
Congratulations on your victory. I expect that my choice of residence will be strongly influenced by local tax issues as well. It’s gear-shifting time in my life, and my present primary residence is comfortable and convenient, but I’m seeing a huge trend towards this type of thing with my local government, and I’m not going to participate.
The good thing (which isn't a good thing...) about Alexanandria, VA, is that it's proximity to the federal job trough, called Washington, DC, keeps employment and real estate high.
It's quite a bubble....
I vaguely remember California being rather slow to adobt federal IRA contribution limit changes a few years ago. I think they finally got around to meeting the federal limits. It caused quite a stink for a while.
Thus - the reason Texas is fairing pretty well in this nasty recession... business climate is good. We have an 8.25% sales tax - but as you know broad based taxes are best - everybody pays - no exemptions for favored groups - except non profits.
Best of all - Texas has NO INCOME TAX - nada, zero, zip, zilch..
I read that 2000 people are moving to Texas a month... wonder why?
Just another day in Kleptistan, I mean America.
Forgot - we do have a pretty burdensome property tax... it is unbalanced - unfair... we are working to get rid of it...
If we have to have taxes - broad ones are best - property owners, non property owners, old and young, and all the rest.
Texas is an argument for a National Sales Tax - administered by each state collecting the add on sales tax - coupled with a drastic reduction in the ‘progressive’ income tax - with an eventual phase out.
People say - a National Sales Tax won’t work - But it works in Texas for 22 million citizens - EVERYBODY PAYS... not just some...
We have about 40 percent of adult Americans not paying any income tax - with a National Sales Tax - they would pay.
Our income tax burden is high because millions are on a free ride... take away their ride.
Glad to hear that. I live outside the city limits of my main town. People in the city decided that they needed a “pot hole tax.” Those of us outside the limits are expected to pay the tax even though we had no say in the approval of the tax. I have chosen not to participate. I suspect that in a month or two “they” will come to see the error of their ways. Sooner is better!
I remember that. People like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton got a look at insurance companies’ annual statements and saw a huge amount of money that people were saving for retirement. The greedy bustards wanted to appropriate it for “inner city investment” but got slapped down in a hurry!
Government greed knows no bounds.
Watch them do what North Carolina did. The courts ruled they could not tax military retirement pay after years of battling it out. They were ordered to return the money.
So our beloved state gladly refunded the money, but only for vets who protested the tax at the time they filed their original returns. If you didn’t write a note with your tax return that you were protesting the tax you were SOL.
tell your friends to say that they are homeless....
like someone said...starve the beast.
we have a high sales tax, and our property taxes are sky high....but at least you might be able to deduct them on your federal tax...
Then with some similarities - Washington state must be spending TONS OF MONEY on the welfare state and other wasteful spending...
Texas has a surplus this past year... hmmmm? - wonder if out of control spending has something to do with Washington State’s economic problems?
but lo....that would not have been enough income...so, they made up a stupid survey and decided that they could require all of the zip codes out of the city to get these ridiculous emission tests too...
it didn't matter if you never drove in town, they just made assumptions to determine that they had the right to force the emission tests...
govt never stops....it never quits....it'll consume everything that they can....
Many states have personal property taxes. In WV, I pay yearly personal property taxes on two vehicles, my boat and the boat trailer. I’m still better off than I was in NYC where there was no personal property tax.
In CT we have every tax. Sales tax, income tax, personal property tax, fuel taxes that would make a loanshark bluff and on and on. I really should get the hell out of here.
Here is another example of a state not conforming or taking its sweet time. It looks like it is going to pass.
“these idiots don’t realize that by raising taxes, they will keep the drug problem and lose the quality residents.”
they can change the name of the town to ACORN, Ohio.
Good job, the principle and personal satisfaction is definitely worth the cost of your move.
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