Trying to understand your taxes (Pittsburgh, Penn: property taxes, for sale, income)

[Just Rachel]

Hello.

My daughter and family are having to move from Iowa to Pittsburgh by September. She's discovered that you folks pay a lot of taxes that we don't understand. In one thread we saw listed occupation tax, wage tax, school tax, and others we didn't have a clue about. The only thing we understand are Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax and Sales Tax.

Would one of you kind folks please explain what these taxes are all about and exactly who has to pay them. They will only be renting if that matters.

Thanks muchly!

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Just Rachel

Would one of you kind folks please explain what these taxes are all about and exactly who has to pay them.

occupation tax: this is a minimal tax paid to the city by people who live outside of the city but work within the city. I believe it's $52 per year.

wage tax: this is a local government tax that is generally 1% of income for people living outside of the city and city residents pay 3%. This tax pays for town services such as fire, police, etc.

school tax: a tax on properties to pay for township school systems

sales tax: here it's 7% in Allegheny County and 6% outside of Allegheny County. (Clothing and food are not sales taxed in PA.) I'm not entirely sure who benefits from this tax. I suspect the state, but I have no idea how they use it. But the county apparently gets 1% because it's 7%.

(btw, I only answered the ones you asked about. )

Originally Posted by Just Rachel

They will only be renting if that matters

As a renter, your daughter doesn't need to worry about paying those taxes until she purchases a home.

Originally Posted by Just Rachel

The only thing we understand are Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax and Sales Tax.

You don't have property tax? You don't have a local government tax?

[Just Rachel]

Oops! Yes, we have property tax.

We don't have a local government tax.

Umm.....you say you only answered the ones I asked about.....what else is there??!!!

Thank you for your reply. I've got a better understanding now.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Just Rachel

Umm.....you say you only answered the ones I asked about.....what else is there??!!!

Just the county property tax.

You didn't outright ask about that one.

It's different from the school property tax.

[Just Rachel]

Thanks again.

[Sideblinded]

I lived in Davenport, Bettendorf & Des Moines Iowa (Des Moines was only for 8 months or so, and we bought a new home in a tax relief area.) Iowa is not cheap for property taxes, but it is not as taxed as much or as high as W. PA is.

There are more taxes here, but IA, WI, IL, and OH (among others) are not as shell shocked as others moving in as homeowners.

[beeswax]

Hopes, you mentioned in this thread that PA sales tax doesn't include clothing or groceries. That sounds pretty great to me! Thanks for the scoop!

However, the sales tax is applied to things like cars, furniture, movie tickets, and any Home Depot-related things, right? Darn.

So, here's a question for everyone: is there a website or government office that has a list of all of these taxes and where the money is going?

As a nosy person (aka taxpaying citizen), I would like to know what each tax is, where it goes, and if its really worth giving it/getting upset about having to pay it. I don't mind paying my taxes when the money is used effectively, like if its going to make the city cleaner, prettier, safer, make its residents smarter, or if it stimulates the economy in a way that supports making the city cleaner, its residents smarter, etc.

In the interest of finding a creative, open-minded, proactive approach to making Pittsburgh taxes work for the people, what are some of the ideas from other, more successful, cities that should be inplemented? What is the Mayor is trying to implement for Pittsburgh? Which ideas are working for Pittsburgh and why?

Boy, my brain is working overtime again. You'll have to forgive me; I'm Irish - we tend to like a lot of lively conversation...

[Hopes]

While searching for the answer to beeswax's question, I discovered that there is an additional tax---the use tax. It's imposed on prperty purchased outside of Pennsylvania. Here's a pamphlet explaining use tax. At the moment, I can't find the distribution for sales and use tax. References are merely made to the funding of "services."

I think it's important to point out that Pennsylvania does NOT have state property tax. There is also no personal property tax in Pennsylvania.

.

[beeswax]

Whew! No PA state property tax or personal property tax, that's a relief. Although, it looks like there's already a long list... Thanks, Hopes, for the info!

[prototypepariah]

I think there is also an occupational privilege tax of 10 bucks per job or year....


there is no garbage bill in pittsburgh which coming from philly area is nice....