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Thinking of relocating after spending a year in FL, previously in VT. I'm not a retiree, in my early 50's with the job freedom to relocate if I wish. I'll be renting an apt/condo/small house
What's the overall tax situation in SC? I've read favorable things about the costs of living in SC
Hadn't considered it until now so a bit clueless of the details, what's taxed, what's not taxed?
Overall did you save money when you moved to SC? Details please!
I will let a qualified person answer your question in full ... but I just wanted to chime in regarding a couple of elements of your question because over the last few months we had been looking to buy a home in South Florida until we decided we much preferred the Charleston area and just bought a home here.
1. Cost of living difference will vary on which part of SC and FL you are comparing. On the whole probably FL has a higher cost of living than SC, although there are very inexpensive areas in FL and a few very expensive areas in SC. Obviously FL's most expensive areas are much more expensive than SC's most expensive areas, as you well know people buy $20m homes and condos on a daily basis, and there's about about $50mil worth of small pipi compensating cars in my building's parking lot alone.
2. Not sure if you are planning to purchase or rent a home, but if you are planning to buy keep in mind the following tradeoff. The whole FL is a state income tax free zone is misleading ... the bean counters there figured out that trying to get income tax from a tax base hugely comprised of retirees is a losing proposition, so they attract folks based in the idea of no income tax and hammer them on property taxes simply because the numbers showed that more folks owned homes than generated income. So for a 4300sq/ft primary residence on a 10000sq/ft lot we just bought in Mt Pleasant our property taxes are less than $4K/yr, whereas a similar property we looked in Coconut Grove was around $25,000/yr. You'd have to make a pretty good chunk of annual income to generate $25,000 worth of state income ... the way we calculated it, it came out that in FL a property owner ends up paying more in property taxes than they would have paid if they paid the average state income and property taxes combined. Like I said, that's bean counters for you.
The restaurant tax is high. Clothes are taxed, food is taxed, and there is a yearly car tax. I find grocery prices to be comparable to the northeast. Gas is cheaper here. Cigarettes are also cheaper (if you smoke). Rents and house prices are less here than in the northeast. Overall, it is cheaper to live here. The a/c bill doesn't even compare to the heating bills I used to pay!
The restaurant tax is high. Clothes are taxed, food is taxed, and there is a yearly car tax. I find grocery prices to be comparable to the northeast. Gas is cheaper here. Cigarettes are also cheaper (if you smoke). Rents and house prices are less here than in the northeast. Overall, it is cheaper to live here. The a/c bill doesn't even compare to the heating bills I used to pay!
What's the restaurant tax? VT it was 10%
Taxing clothes, food and cars, ugh. Guess the cheap property taxes would offset those costs, if you own a home/condo. I don't plan to own.
Heating costs in VT are a killer, my 1200 sq ft home cost me almost $2000 per season and that was with the temp turned down to conserve costs. What's the heating costs in SC?
Taxing clothes, food and cars, ugh. Guess the cheap property taxes would offset those costs, if you own a home/condo. I don't plan to own.
Heating costs in VT are a killer, my 1200 sq ft home cost me almost $2000 per season and that was with the temp turned down to conserve costs. What's the heating costs in SC?
Income tax?
I think the hospitality tax is a couple percent over the regular tax rate. The sales tax rate is 8.5%. When I was getting quotes for my office holiday party, there was a 10% tax on food and 13% tax on alcohol. I believe the food tax rate for food at stores is only 1%. Clothes are taxed at 8.5%.
The rent is very reasonable around here. I live 5 miles from the ocean and it is probably at least half the rent of what I would pay up north living that close to the ocean.
I did have to get used to the tax on clothes and food when I moved here, but the costs of other things makes up for it.
I think the hospitality tax is a couple percent over the regular tax rate. The sales tax rate is 8.5%. When I was getting quotes for my office holiday party, there was a 10% tax on food and 13% tax on alcohol. I believe the food tax rate for food at stores is only 1%. Clothes are taxed at 8.5%.
The rent is very reasonable around here. I live 5 miles from the ocean and it is probably at least half the rent of what I would pay up north living that close to the ocean.
I did have to get used to the tax on clothes and food when I moved here, but the costs of other things makes up for it.
Sales tax is 8.5%, geesh, that's high
Like you said the decrease in housing costs probably more than offsets the sales tax
Rents in the NE are ridiculous, that's why I moved to FL and the Orlando area isn't cheap either, still cheaper than NE
I opened a retail business here in SC in July of last year. The sales tax depends on which county you live in. It is not the same everywhere in SC. You can go to SCDOR's website to see the charts for sales tax county by county.
I believe the sales tax varies by county. I think it is something like 6% state wide and then some counties add on additional tax up to 3% (which only appears to be in Horry county).
here is the Department of Revenue's website with tax information
If you are coming from New England...you will be pleasantly surprised with how reasonable life is in SC. I'm pretty sure VT has car inspections.....no car inspections here.....
We are from Maine and find SC very affordable. I have heard people coming from Fl, find SC much more expensive.
I believe the sales tax varies by county. I think it is something like 6% state wide and then some counties add on additional tax up to 3% (which only appears to be in Horry county).
here is the Department of Revenue's website with tax information
The OP is getting answers about what taxes are like in the Charleston area...since that is where the question was asked.
I think this should be moved to the South Carolina forum.
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