Income Tax... (sales, car registration, insurance)

[LiveinPA]

I was just looking at the income tax rates in ID. Nearly 8%?

How can people say that ID is a cheap place to live when the rate is that high?

[micrguy]

I lived in Pennsylvania for three very long years while my wife was in grad school. The taxes in Idaho are nothing compared to all of the taxes we had to pay in Pennsylvania. Between the state income tax, local income tax, school taxes, township occupation taxes and I am sure that I am missing one or two taxes that they have in Pennsylvania, we have never ever paid as much in taxes as we did in Pennsylvania. Luckily we did not buy a house in Pennsylvania or we would have had outrageous property taxes on top of everything else.

[LiveinPA]

Originally Posted by micrguy

I lived in Pennsylvania for three very long years while my wife was in grad school. The taxes in Idaho are nothing compared to all of the taxes we had to pay in Pennsylvania. Between the state income tax, local income tax, school taxes, township occupation taxes and I am sure that I am missing one or two taxes that they have in Pennsylvania, we have never ever paid as much in taxes as we did in Pennsylvania. Luckily we did not buy a house in Pennsylvania or we would have had outrageous property taxes on top of everything else.

Well I will agree that property taxes in PA are insane. However, from what I've seen in Idaho they are only marginally cheaper at least in the most populous areas.

But let's look at your example...PA state income tax is 3%, local income tax is about 1% but may be 2% or so depending on location, school taxes again are about 1% and occupation taxes are a flat rate...in most townships like $20 or so even though the city charges over $100 now.

So adding that all up PA taxes are still lower than the flat 8% Idaho rate...that is what surprised me. I can tell you that I do not pay 8% of my income to the state here.

And then above that does not Idaho have the above mentioned taxes? (school, township etc.)

PA does have SOME cheap taxes though...car registration for example is only about $30 no matter what you drive.

I just look at a lot of cost comparisons and ID is always listed as cheap...which boggles my mind when "cheap" is giving a flat 8% of your earnings to the state.

[twinprism]

Idaho is not the cheapest state when it comes to tax rates. There are some exemptions and credits to offset some of the income tax for some people. I don't think it is the most expensive when it comes to tax rates either. We don't typically have as many extra taxes (I'm not aware of any municipal sales tax) and stuff like car registration is really cheap. Depending on where you like you will pay some property taxes which is how most schools are partially funded. No other school taxes that I know of. Idaho doesn't have many big corporations to help pay the bills, or they have to give them huge incentives or tax breaks to relocate here, that is part of the problem. Plus, the state has millions of miles of roads to maintain and no tolls, just gas tax.

If you want cheap, move to Nevada. Gambling and prostitution take care of the sales tax portion of the bill for you. Of course, then you have to live in Nevada.. :O

Just kidding, I like some parts of Nevada...

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Compared to Ca. its a bargain! You get taxed and fee'd to death here. Almost 9.5% on income at the top and probably going up, sales tax almost 8% and likely to go up soon. Vehicle registration is very high, plus all the BS smog check fee's etc. to be able to drive. Calif also tacks extra tax on every gallon of gas sold here.
Yep it sounds like people make good money here, but by the time this state gets done with you, you realize you arent making that much at all.

[cleosmom]

There is also no sales tax added to services; hair cuts, oil changes etc. etc.

Also car insurance is quite reasonable especially in comparison to stes where there are large populations.

[micrguy]

Couple of other points, car insurance is considerably less than what we paid in other states, property taxes are a lot less than most of the midwest or east coast and Idaho has about the cheapest electricity in the country. I have a really big house and the A/C has been going non-stop the last month and my electric bill was only $128 this month.

Plus the best thing, taxes aside, is that our family lives in a great state. There is no way I would ever want to live in Pennsylvania or any of the other east coast states ever again. It's too crowded, too polluted, traffic is outrageous and the weather is awful. On top of that the people in Idaho are a lot friendlier than any of the states on the east coast.

[LiveinPA]

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

Compared to Ca. its a bargain! You get taxed and fee'd to death here. Almost 9.5% on income at the top and probably going up, sales tax almost 8% and likely to go up soon. Vehicle registration is very high, plus all the BS smog check fee's etc. to be able to drive. Calif also tacks extra tax on every gallon of gas sold here.
Yep it sounds like people make good money here, but by the time this state gets done with you, you realize you arent making that much at all.

Compared to CA everything is a bargain.

I understand that a lot of services and such are more affordable in ID but that big income tax is just a killer.

As far as gas tax goes...all states tax gasoline.

Did you know that California only taxes gas at .18 per gallon?

Idaho taxes it at .25 per gallon...so Idaho's gas taxes are quite a bit more than CA's. (PA taxes it .31 per gallon!)

Idaho seems effectively cheap. Meaning that for many people, it is cheaper. My concern is that as one of the fastest growing states a lot of the "cheap thrills" of cheap power and car insurance will eventually increase and people will wonder how they ended up living in a state with such high taxes.

[Trace_Rinaldi]

All I know is the minute I get out of Ca. the price of gas goes down alot. Its not the same this year, but just last year when I was in Id. gas was on average about .20 cents a gallon cheaper than here in So. Cal. Same for every other year I've gone there. I drive alot, including a drive from Ca. to Atlanta every year. I've travelled all over in a car, and at least for me the prices have always been worse here than just about anywhere.

As for the question you ask, I dont see the big expansion happening in the area we chose to buy land anytime soon. And it will be a LONG time before Idaho see's the oceans of house farms you can see in Southern California.. Sometime take a look at a town like Temecula on Google Maps with the sattelite image. Its almost creepy looking, the miles and miles of nothing but houses built right on top of each other..

Thats what I want to get away from, and in a town of just under 1000, I think all will be fine for a good long time. Its a short ride to Spokane or CDA if I want to see "Big City" again.. I'm thinking it wont be very often, but it is nice to have;-)
BTW our 25 acres with a 1200sf shop is about $350 a year for prp tax. That will go up some when we build a house but its not anything out of control IMHO..

[Niners fan]

Originally Posted by LiveinPA

As far as gas tax goes...all states tax gasoline.

Did you know that California only taxes gas at .18 per gallon?

Idaho taxes it at .25 per gallon...so Idaho's gas taxes are quite a bit more than CA's. (PA taxes it .31 per gallon!)

CA also adds sales tax of at least 7.25% (more in most counties) on gas so the total state tax on gas in much higher in CA than ID (which I don't believe adds a sales tax to gas).