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Since property taxes are not considered, these ratings don't mean much if you plan to own a house.
Yea that is what you get with most of these low tax statistics. Some states are more friendly to certain people than to others. It really depends on your habits and what not.
State Income taxes are one issue, but even that is not as cut and dried as some website suggest. Exemptions, and deductions vary with each state. It depends far too much on your personal situation.
The state that I have retired to, folks will say has too high taxes. It's highest tax bracket is 8.5%. My Gross Income is high enough that I would be well within the highest tax bracket, yet with exemptions and deductions, I don't pay any income taxes.
Property taxes are the same way. Mil rates can not be directly compared to each other. Some states assess at the current market value, other states use a ouija board to determine assessed values. So even if you had a high mil rate, a set low assessment, still gives you low property taxes. And most states have programs where you can get permanent exemptions on your property setting it's assessment at a lower level.
Property taxes are the same way. Mil rates can not be directly compared to each other. Some states assess at the current market value, other states use a ouija board to determine assessed values. So even if you had a high mil rate, a set low assessment, still gives you low property taxes. And most states have programs where you can get permanent exemptions on your property setting it's assessment at a lower level.
Okay, I ran into the term "Mil rate" on South Dakota and Wyoming government websites, but have NO IDEA what that means. I live in Southern California and have never come across that term before.
I haven't read that particular Fortune article, but I've read several articles elsewhere on "Small Business" friendly states and think it probably depends on what kind of business you run and if you are just starting up or have been in business for a few years already.
I started researching Washington state around Seattle, got scared away by the Seattle area being so much like So Cal in size and also their business property tax seemed odd to me. Then I researced Oregon along the coast and discovered that their business property tax is similar to (perhaps even worse) than Washington's. On the Douglas County, OR government website, I found an area that told me, as an artist, I would have to pay property taxes on every paintbrush, art tool and painting I'd made even if I hadn't sold any art that year. I couldn't afford to supplement my savings by selling art that way.
Does anyone know if South Dakota and Wyoming also have those type of property taxes? I need to find a place that will encourage me to support myself, not keep me dependant on working for a big company.
Okay, I ran into the term "Mil rate" on South Dakota and Wyoming government websites, but have NO IDEA what that means. ....
Here goes.
The method of how your town / county figures out your property taxes, involves two steps.
First every property needs to be assessed. Some states use the market value, other states use some secret portion or factor of the market value.
Then they have a 'mil rate' that is a number that gets multiplied against the assessed value to determine your taxes.
You have a database of properties and all their assessed values. But now the city counsel decides it needs to raise more money for the next years budget, so they tweak up the mil rate.
My mil rate here is 0.00842 that number is multiplied with my property's assessed value to give my annual taxes.
When I lived in Atwater California, our property assessment was readjusted up every time that anyone in the neighborhood sold a property for a higher value. Then with prop 13, they stopped it, so your assessment only goes when when the title is changed.
Most other states however, have assessors who guess a value for your property.
When we want to compare one area's property taxes to another areas. Commonly folks will compare the mil rates. Thinking that a $100k home in both locations, should be assessed the same. So a mil rate in city 'A' of 0.003 and a mil rate in city 'B' of 0.006 should have property taxes of: $300 and $600.
Simple right?
The monkey wrench in the gears is that in many states a $100k home may be assessed at $50k.
And like here in Maine, we have multitudes of 'exemptions'. We have exemptions for low income households, we have exemptions for vets. We have exemptions for old people. We have exemptions for growing trees, we have exemptions for open space, we have exemptions for farm land. So a property that you bought for $100k, may be assessed at $50k, then you subtract a half dozen exemptions and the final assessment value may be $10k [or less].
The point?
It is really a very cloudy issue trying to see through this to compare one areas property taxes with another area's property taxes.
Yep, good ole' proposition 13. I bought my condo when current prices were at their lowest before going back up again. The only way I can afford to live in my place is because the taxes can only be raised by a certain small percentage every year. That doesn't take into account the special assements, like the Mello -Roos etc.
The tax per dollar of assessed value of property. The rate is expressed in "mills", where one mill is one-tenth of a cent ($0.001).
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cleptomaniac
