Taxes--how do they compare/rate? (Eugene: sales, HOA, insurance)

[fiferjean]

I'm thinking of moving to Oregon (I dare not say from where!) and wonder how the taxes are in Eugene--are they comparable to other parts of Oregon, etc.? Going to be retiring soon, so money is a factor, per usual.
Thanks for helping

[haggardhouseelf]

No one has responded to this, and so I thought I'd give it a shot.

If I were you, I'd call up a friendly H&R Block person and speak with them. We always use H&R Block for our taxes and the people we've worked with have always been so helpful. We've used H&R Block people in 4 different states and they have all just been so patient with us and so wonderful. Anyway, they may be able to answer your questions.

My first thoughts when I read your post, were that 1. in Oregon you won't have sales tax and 2. in Oregon you get kicker checks! We only lived in California for one year, so I don't know if California has anything like kicker checks... but boy, in Oregon, they sure are fun when you get them!

Surely there is some person - someone who teaches about taxes to seniors at a community center, a financial adviser at your bank or credit union, call the IRS or Dept. of Revenue for both states, someone... who could give you real advice for this. When it comes to money it's better to hear it from a pro who knows whats-what rather than who-knows-who on this wacky web thing.

If you're talking property taxes, a realtor could help. I think certain parts of Eugene have high property taxes... but not as high as say... some cities in California?

[Nell Plotts]

As the previous poster said, Oregon has no sales taxes. Cities and county's support themselves through property taxes. You can download a copy of the Oregon income tax forms & instruction from the Oregon Revenue Department internet site. Just fill it in as if you were a resident and see what you would pay.

[HBelt]

What are kicker checks?

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by HBelt

What are kicker checks?

See if this link works...http://http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/PERTAX/faq-kicker.shtml (broken link)

It explains all about them.

.:hhe:.

[JustPassingThrough]

You can get a state tax preparation program for very little if you want to see your "what if" as far as the income taxes. Property taxes can be quite high compared to many areas of CA and NV, especially in the more desireable parts of Eugene. Check out the difference between living in the coutry near Eugene (Lane Co.) vs. in the South Hills or Ferry Street areas. Of course, in the country you are far from a hospital and public water supply in most cases.

In general, the more desireable the area is as a safe and good place to live in Eugene, the higher the taxes will be. That doesn't sound right, but it does seem to work that way.

Oregon taxes certain types of passive income differently that other states, and it also has rules regarding deduction of taxes - check your situation very carefully before you make the leap.

Property taxes in most parts of CA tend to be MUCH lower than in the Eugene area, perhaps half in most cases for the same price house. As one gets older, income may be fixed, but property taxes will usually stay the same or move higher over time. If you buy your house cash, and you are quite old with no beneficiaries, Oregon / Lane do mention some things about deferred payments - you can essentially stop paying the taxes, however the taxes plus simple interest are due upon the eventual sale of the property. HOA dues are of course another matter, as would be assessments.

The vast majority of desireable places to live in Eugene have some sort of HOA with CC&Rs as well as dues and assessments. That could be even more of an issue than taxes as the shiney new neighborhoods need streets and sewers or other traditionally civic-maintained things. You may like the HOA situation, but consider it as important a thing to look at as your tax bill.

The income tax ramps up at a higher rate than CA, and as you probably know, NV and WA have no state income tax. In CA, you have to make about 110,000/year to pay 10% income tax. In Oregon, that figure is closer to just 6,500 - big difference!

Many will say that the savings of no sales tax makes the difference to them. That might be true if you need to buy a lot of consumer items. Most folks when they get older are looking to sell off excess material things to make life more simple and less cluttered - so they don't buy as much of the latest Play Station or whatever. Figure out how much you spend right now on taxable goods to have that number handy when you evaluate.

Don't forget that any savings will be offset by moving and related transfer costs and fees. You might wish to divide those into your outlook calculations. It can be very costly to look for the right place when you don't already live there. If you now live 1,000 or more miles from there, you might need to spend many thousands just to find your shangri-la in Oregon, and perhaps quite a bit just to get it inspected so that you won't have ugly surprises later.

Oregon is beautiful, but it really is not a cheap place to live once all the taxes and issues are figured in. If you want to live there because you love the area - you'll do about as well in most cases as anywhere else, and of course, you'll be where you like to be! But if you're thinking that it is cheap due to taxes, it might only be so if you are moving from NY or NJ.

I was thinking about saving and all that. When my accountant did the math, OR was going to be quite costly - try 20% more every year! And you know, it even seemed that the houses were cheaper - but the cheap ones were real dumps. So, it still costs. No free lunch. But, the place has such a nice quality to it, Oregon is a very pretty place to be.

As an offset to taxes, do look at insurance. Many types of insurance are less expensive, as is automobile registration.

Do your research, and do hire a pro to help you if you are not good at figuring taxes. You might even need a lawyer while you're at it so that you can structure things well.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by JustPassingThrough

In general, the more desireable the area is as a safe and good place to live in Eugene, the higher the taxes will be. That doesn't sound right, but it does seem to work that way.

It makes sense to me. I think the reason that the better parts of town have higher property taxes is just that - the nicer parts of town generally offer better services and offer a more safe and secure place to live. People who can afford to pay a little more for a greater peace of mind do, and so you have people living in the neighborhood who care more about living in a nicer place and wish to keep it nice or even improve upon it. All this maintenance and betterment of a place takes money and it must come from somewhere.

The less desirable a neighborhood is, the less the property taxes will be. This isn't just Eugene, this is everywhere. I do think, though, that there are certainly places where there are low property taxes where you may find a very nice home with very nice neighbors. You might not have access to good schools or community recreation services or things like that, but if you aren't looking for those things anyway, then that might not matter to you. As a mother with children, we are looking to buy our first home in the areas near our children's good schools, and so we understand that we will pay higher property taxes than if we were looking in other areas of Eugene.

If we didn't have children, we would certainly consider some other neighborhoods which have lower property taxes which are also very nice, but because we do - we need to be near their good schools and so we are prepared to pay a bit more for them.

Originally Posted by JustPassingThrough

Oregon taxes certain types of passive income differently that other states, and it also has rules regarding deduction of taxes - check your situation very carefully before you make the leap.

Property taxes in most parts of CA tend to be MUCH lower than in the Eugene area, perhaps half in most cases for the same price house. As one gets older, income may be fixed, but property taxes will usually stay the same or move higher over time. If you buy your house cash, and you are quite old with no beneficiaries, Oregon / Lane do mention some things about deferred payments - you can essentially stop paying the taxes, however the taxes plus simple interest are due upon the eventual sale of the property. HOA dues are of course another matter, as would be assessments.

The vast majority of desireable places to live in Eugene have some sort of HOA with CC&Rs as well as dues and assessments. That could be even more of an issue than taxes as the shiney new neighborhoods need streets and sewers or other traditionally civic-maintained things. You may like the HOA situation, but consider it as important a thing to look at as your tax bill.

I don't agree really with this opinion. We have been looking for several months for a home in the nicer areas of Eugene (areas with good community services, close to the city pools and recreation centers, low crime, and good schools) and we have not once seen a place with an HOA or any sort of additional fees. Unless you are talking about condo's, perhaps? I believe there are some condo communities, one I know of along the river near the mall, but that is to be expected. We have also lived in Washington state and California in recent years and we did see many homes and condo communities which had these considerations. We found Washington (King County) and California (Rocklin, CA) to be MUCH more expensive than anyplace in Eugene. Eugene, and Oregon as a whole, is much more affordable than either of those two states. It is one reason we chose to relocate back here as soon as we could.

There is a website which might help you compare your current state to whatever state you are considering moving to: Taxes by State

I compared Oregon to California, and really Oregon seems much more reasonable, just according to the information on that website. But even in our experience as a family of four having lived in all three states, we've found oregon to be much more affordable. Especially considering you can still buy a nice 3 bedroom home in a desirable neighborhood on half an acre in Eugene and other nice cities in Oregon for $200K or less. That might get you a condo or very small house in California or Washington state, depending on what city you're in. My husbands paycheck stretches much further here than it did in either of those states. Having now relocated back to Oregon, we are once again able to put much more away in savings and our own retirement accounts.

Or perhaps the previous poster is one who wishes people would stop moving to Oregon. There are many who feel Oregon is getting too crowded with all the people retiring here, or people like us who have lived here once and fell in love and had to come back to stay for a longer while. (That in itself might tell you something...) If that is the case - I'm very sorry, previous poster. Oregon is horribly expensive with lots of mean people and the air is bad and it stinks here. If you move here you'll be very sorry! (just kidding!)