Tennessee state income tax (Chattanooga, Columbia: house, calculating, taxi)

[fatbench]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

Have you been to Chicago lately?

(we don't, however, have such a ridiculous sales tax on groceries as Tenn. does, thankfully.)

IL has a flat rate of 3% for state income tax, which is low comparing to many other states which do levy state income tax

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

Can I even tell you how weird that sounds to me, living in NJ?

Everytime I see something of that nature in my Roane County newspaper it boggles my mind too.

I mean...cut spending so the taxpayers don't have to pay more? How in the world could that possibly WORK?! lol

I'm sure it sounds very weird to you. IN NJ all they do is raise taxes. I moved out of there 2 years ago with a Real Estate tax of $7200, and now its $12,000.This was for a 2600sq foot House. I'm paying less than half that now, and have a larger home.
And yes you can cut expenses in a Budget. Maybe someday NJ will learn how.
I think the thread on THe NJ board about Country NJ is a hoot.

Diane G

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by fatbench

IL has a flat rate of 3% for state income tax, which is low comparing to many other states which do levy state income tax

oh, i know, which is actually pretty good. but our sales tax will be 11% soon, if not already.

I wouldn't know because I don't spend much money on crap I don't need.

[bbkaren]

That's why I think the TN system is great. You can control how much tax you pay because it's based on what you SPEND, not what you EARN.

In Tennessee you have the option of growing and raising a lot of your food, making your own bread, that sort of thing.

In NJ we don't pay a high percentage of state income tax, but it's paid on everything we make, even if we don't spend a dime of it. Renters pay income tax on their rent payments (mortgage interest is tax deductible), we pay income tax on everything we buy, (even at yard sales, etc.)...PLUS sales tax on many of those items.

And now in NJ, they're trying to add a sin tax to fast food to boot.

[javaman]

Originally Posted by alleycat

Probably one day. Government, whether state or federal, hasn't slowed its appetite for tax revenues. In Tennessee there will probably be some sort of "crisis" and an income tax will sneak through. I don't think it's happen anytime soon. Even Bredesen is talking about cutting spending rather than raising taxes in the current budget talks.

Just an opinion.

Pray that Tn. never gets a state income tax. Take it from someone who lives in a high tax state. Here in S.E. Wi. we pay almost 7% in income tax, 5.6% sales tax (though not on most food items), $1.75 per pack on smokes, and almost 40 cents a gallon on gas among other taxes and fees. And to top it off, I pay almost $5,000.00 a year in property taxes on a house that the city says is worth $230,000 and that we can't get an offer on at $200,000. While I agree that Tn.'s tax on food is rougher on lower income people, I still think that Tn. people as a whole, are way better of than most across the nation when it comes to taxes. Your Governonor is right, when times get tough, instead of raising taxes,the state should first do as regular people have to: CUT BACK ON NON-ESSENTIAL SPENDING FIRST. Then, when things improve, you can return them to your budget or you may find out that you really didn't need that expenditure after all or found a better, less expensive way to do it. Our Governor gave Wi. one of, if not THE biggest tax increases in state history last year and now 6 months into the new budget, wants to raise more taxes.

A while back I did some rough calculating and figured that I would have to 'spend' over $80,000 a year with Tn. sales tax to equal the same amount in income and property tax alone in Wi.

[Eat]

Originally Posted by javaman

Our Governor gave Wi. one of, if not THE biggest tax increases in state history last year and now 6 months into the new budget, wants to raise more taxes.

How did your guv'ner give you a sales tax? Doesn't your legislature have anything to say about it?

[javaman]

Originally Posted by Eat

How did your guv'ner give you a sales tax? Doesn't your legislature have anything to say about it?

OK The Gov. proposed it and the legislature just seems to go along with just about everything the guv'ner wants.
And yes, I know, we keep re-electing them but it's not with my votes.

[hiknapster]

Well, hold on to your hats.

Here's a news flash.

Governor Phil Bredesen is a native New Jerseyian. He was raised in New York and educated at Haah-vahd, in my home state.

Oh, and he's a Democrat that's talking about cutting spending.

That's the sort of thing that the Rush Limbaughs of the world will never mention.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Well, hold on to your hats.

Here's a news flash.

Governor Phil Bredesen is a native New Jerseyian. He was raised in New York and educated at Haah-vahd, in my home state.

Oh, and he's a Democrat that's talking about cutting spending.

That's the sort of thing that the Rush Limbaughs of the world will never mention.

I applaud Bredesen for cutting spending before raising taxes. He is also very anti-income tax which definitely earns him big points in my book. In some circles he's referred to as a DINO (Democrat In Name Only). However, I do question why he's still spending $20 million to renovate the governor's mansion and add an underground ballroom when he's going to slash state jobs.

[k350]

There should be no income tax of any kind on incomes.

Problem is there is and TN suffers for it. TN may not levy an income tax on its people, but it taxes businesses enough that we fail to bring in businesses to the state as others in the south have successfully done.

All in all, government of all sorts spend too much dang money and collects too much.