Taxes, utilities, insurance-Cincinnati (renters, mortgage, student loans)

[IronWhitey]

I have a school project going on and have tried so many things to find out what all this is. Utilities: Water, sewage, and gas. As far as they go, I need to know what the costs of them are and can't find it for anything! What's a house of four average in cost?
Taxes: Federal, state, social. I'm so confused.
How do you figure out insurances for house, life, car?
Student loans?
Please! Anyone, a little help would be great! Examples?

[The Don]

I would start out by contacting a realtor - probably by going to an office in person; they would have a good pulse on what the current cost of housing is and should even help you with the cost of utilities.

As for taxes, there probably is something on the internet saying what the average taxpayer pays. Not knowing the exact nature of this assignment, it may be good enough to just assume a typical family of 4 with taxable income of, say $80,000; the federal income tax liability can be figured using the IRS PUB 17 - it comes to 13,120 and the state tax would be around $3000. The city tax is 2.1% of all income for Cincinnati itself - less for other locations. Social security is 7.4% for each person (15.8% total). I can't remember the medicare tax but I think it's around 2%.

[flash3780]

Originally Posted by IronWhitey

I have a school project going on and have tried so many things to find out what all this is. Utilities: Water, sewage, and gas. As far as they go, I need to know what the costs of them are and can't find it for anything! What's a house of four average in cost?
Taxes: Federal, state, social. I'm so confused.
How do you figure out insurances for house, life, car?
Student loans?
Please! Anyone, a little help would be great! Examples?

I have beef with taxes because the government does its very best to hide from you what you're really paying. However, one of the more difficult ones to figure out is property tax. In Ohio, property tax is calculated by mills; the formula is:
[35% of House Assessed Value (incl improvements)] * [mils of property tax] / 1000
(This tax is hidden to renters - built into their rent, see the county auditor's website for specific tax rates)

Here's a good website for federal income taxes (progressive taxes can be confusing):
Tax Brackets (Federal Income Tax Rates) 2000 through 2009

The state income tax in Ohio is simply 6.24% of your gross income.

Social Security is 6.200% and Medicare is 1.450% of your gross income. (Mind you, this is matched by your employer... you really pay twice as much, but half is hidden from you.)

You also pay taxes on investments (Capital Gains Tax):
Capital Gains Tax Rate Calculator

On top of that, you pay taxes for gasoline: $.464/gal
Taxes for stuff you buy (sales tax): 5.5% (state) + 1.0% (city) = 6.5%
Taxes when you go out to eat (luxury tax): 6.5%

Not to mention estate taxes, municipal Income taxes, and school district income taxes in some areas. Hotel taxes are amazing (~17% in Cincinnati). You pay extra taxes on your cell phone and/or home phone (universal service charge, etc). You pay a special tax on tires. You pay to register your vehicle yearly. You pay for your driver's license. You pay tolls. You pay import taxes on imported stuff. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Overall, I'd wager that many people pay more than 50% of their income to taxes in this country.

As for the other things you asked for - try calling your local utilities. The power company can tell you the average billing for an address. Note that you'll also pay taxes on your utilities.

Hope that helped.

(edit: I forgot to mention mortgage payment; check http://www.mortgagecalculator.org/. Don't forget your property taxes. If you don't have 20% to put down on the loan, you'll have to pay PMI as well.)