State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees (55, pensions, moving, friendly)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It seems like the site works well but I disagree with at least one selected as "Most Tax Friendly" I picked GA and compared it to TN. GA is selected as most friendly and TN is tax friendly. While TN has no income tax GA excludes portions of income tax. It will exclude up to 35k of income from filers. That income includes pensions, IRA's, and 401k's. While TN has no income tax at all. Then GA has sales tax on goods is 4% with areas able to add up to 4% more. TN has sales tax of 7% with areas able to add 1.5% Lastly property taxes in GA are $1300 on a home that is $140k where TN is $1k on a home of $140k.
I chose both since I am looking at that area as a retirement destination. I was kind of surprised that the selection of GA over TN and SC even as most friendly for retirees. In other web sites I noted the same tax information I put in above so this is not something new. Other lists that determined the tax friendly states have SC, and TN better than GA too.
Still it is a good list but, one other notable exception I think Submariner will chime in on that Maine is a "Not Tax Friendly" state. I would have put that in mixed as well. I could be wrong but may he can enlighten us.
As I mentioned before GA is extremely tax friendly to military retirees and other retirees. for one thing, Property taxes are reduced when you are a certain age. So I don't doubt the list order. I lived there and if I could stand GA, I would relocate to NGA.
Many many military retirees stay or relocate to GA. There are enough bases where they can use their military ID for privileges. COL is generally good.
As to TN, my mother, sister and son live there and it is good if you don't want your income taxed. But the sales tax eats up my wallet when I visit. However the QOL there is great and the state has to pay to run the state somehow. Sales tax is a good way of doing that. So I see why it is listed as tax friendly.
bottomline, I do not fault the outcome of the link posted.
Last edited by theoldnorthstate; 10-18-2015 at 09:47 AM..
thanks LauraC for posting the updated link. this is a good resource
Noted where my home state of NC still is regarded as mixed but TN is now no longer mixed but is tax friendly. I still live in FL having moved here for my last duty assignment. The housing market is getting to where I can think of selling now so I am closer to moving back home. Logic is on the side of TN but my heart is in the mountains of Western NC. it will just be a matter of which hurts least all tolled and your link helps.
PA is shown as tax friendly but we have a governor (D) who wants to help the middle class by raising their taxes (taking more of their money). He also wants to institute a tax on long term care as if families can afford to pay $4000 plus Tom Wolf tax to take care of their elderly parent. I wouldn't be so quick to go to PA. Besides, it gets extremely cold and summer, don't blink it is gone.
I don't understand how Indiana is least tax friendly and Illinois is better. Everyone knows about the horrendous real estate taxes in IL. This doesn't seem right.
Agree that, for us, AL and TN better than GA tax-wise
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfingduo
It seems like the site works well but I disagree with at least one selected as "Most Tax Friendly" I picked GA and compared it to TN. GA is selected as most friendly and TN is tax friendly. While TN has no income tax GA excludes portions of income tax. It will exclude up to 35k of income from filers. That income includes pensions, IRA's, and 401k's. While TN has no income tax at all. Then GA has sales tax on goods is 4% with areas able to add up to 4% more. TN has sales tax of 7% with areas able to add 1.5% Lastly property taxes in GA are $1300 on a home that is $140k where TN is $1k on a home of $140k.
I chose both since I am looking at that area as a retirement destination. I was kind of surprised that the selection of GA over TN and SC even as most friendly for retirees. In other web sites I noted the same tax information I put in above so this is not something new. Other lists that determined the tax friendly states have SC, and TN better than GA too.
Still it is a good list but, one other notable exception I think Submariner will chime in on that Maine is a "Not Tax Friendly" state. I would have put that in mixed as well. I could be wrong but may he can enlighten us.
We retired to AL, and we would be paying more taxes overall in GA than we are in AL. ALL of our pension (defined benefit) income is non-taxable in AL, but in GA we could only exclude a portion of it. Plus, here we can deduct our federal income tax paid against our other taxable income (interest and dividends), so most years we owe no income tax to AL. GA's property tax rates are higher also than what we pay here. Yes, we pay sales tax on groceries here, but our grocery purchases are far less than our taxable income would be in GA. GA's ranking above AL does not ring true in our situation.
We retired to AL, and we would be paying more taxes overall in GA than we are in AL. ALL of our pension (defined benefit) income is non-taxable in AL, but in GA we could only exclude a portion of it. Plus, here we can deduct our federal income tax paid against our other taxable income (interest and dividends), so most years we owe no income tax to AL. GA's property tax rates are higher also than what we pay here. Yes, we pay sales tax on groceries here, but our grocery purchases are far less than our taxable income would be in GA. GA's ranking above AL does not ring true in our situation.
I saw the same. GA is definitely more tax friendly then where I live but since 2013 I have been looking and studying this stuff. It is good but still comes in a tie with NC in our short list. AL would be on my list but the humidity is a bit too much for me. As for sales tax I prefer that over all anyway. If I didn't want to pay tax or pay less I would not buy or buy something less expensive (within reason). Still I think it is a more fair way of taxation. Services do need to be paid for so some revenue is called for. Also TN's lower property taxes will outweigh the difference in sales tax to GA. We still do have Northern GA on our short list.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Agree that, for us, AL and TN better than GA tax-wise
