TN Sales Tax & other TN info (Knoxville, Cookeville: home, find a job)

[ss20ts]

And how's this for confusing: Johnson City has three different sales tax rates because it's in three different counties:
Sullivan County: 9.25%
Washington County: 9.5%
Carter County: 9.75%

Woooooooh that's super weird! How the heck does one city take up residence in three counties? Is it from annexing? It's always fun visiting my cousins in NC where they annex anything that stands still long enough. City borders change faster than they can reprint a map! We don't annex anything where I live. Everything here the government claimed long before the mid-1800's. Why? So they could tax the hell out of it! God forbid NY missed out on a tenth of a cent.

So I have another question. How come sales tax in TN is so high? Is it because there's no personal income tax? Also, do you have that pesky personal property tax that many Southern states have? The tax for having a car, boat, camper, etc. How are your property taxes?

Ok that was more than one question.....scratching head...we need a smiley for that! LOL

[JMT]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

Woooooooh that's super weird! How the heck does one city take up residence in three counties? IS it from annexing? We don't annex anything where I live. Everything here the government claimed long before the mid-1800's. Why? So they could tax the hell out of it!

So I have another question. How come sales tax in TN is so high? Is it because there's no personal income tax? Also, do you have that pesky personal property tax that many Southern states have? The tax for having a car, boat, camper, etc. How are your property taxes?

Ok that was more than one question.....scratching head...we need a smiley for that! LOL

You're right, our state sales tax is rather high. But that's pretty much the only state tax we have except for a tax on dividends. Tennessee, fortunately, has no state property tax and has no personal property tax. It costs the same to renew your car tags whether you drive a BMW or a Hyundai. In some counties it's less than $30/year.

Over all, our taxes are pretty low. Tennessee is generally considered to be one of the lowest-taxed states in the country.

Here's the web site from the Tennessee Department of Revenue that explains all of our taxes:

Taxes

Happy reading!

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by JMT

You're right, our state sales tax is rather high. But that's pretty much the only state tax we have except for a tax on dividends. Tennessee, fortunately, has no state property tax and has no personal property tax. It costs the same to renew your car tags whether you drive a BMW or a Hyundai. In some counties it's less than $30/year.

Over all, our taxes are pretty low. Tennessee is generally considered to be one of the lowest-taxed states in the country.

Here's the web site from the Tennessee Department of Revenue that explains all of our taxes:

Taxes

Happy reading!

$30 a YEAR????? OMG!!!! Last year it cost me $150 for 2 years! I'm getting ripped off even more than I thought. DAMN! I need to move!

As for this list of taxes, where's the rest? Seriously! You have no idea how many you're missing. There are roads and schools in TN, right? I mean ones with pavement. Schools in buildings and not tents. How the heck do you do it without taxing EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING? You guys should give NY some lessons! We're totally getting robbed.....robbed doesn't even begin to describe!

[jabogitlu]

How did Johnson City end up Sullivan and Carter, as well as in its home county of Washington? Yep - annexation. There were some sweet deals not to be missed so they annexed the hell out of it. The city boundaries are sort of odd. They've annexed all up one highway just because there was a grocery store being built up there.

As for tags/licensing, in most counties (that I've lived in) the fees tend to run more like $65. So for two years that'd be $130, not that far off from what you're paying.

[alleycat]

The short answer is Tennessee usually ranks in the bottom ten states for overall tax burden. Of course, that depends on the individual and a host of factors. Without an income tax, the higher someone's income is, the better off they are in Tennessee than in those states with a high state income tax.

The 800-pound gorilla is still the Federal Income Tax however.

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

How did Johnson City end up Sullivan and Carter, as well as in its home county of Washington? Yep - annexation. There were some sweet deals not to be missed so they annexed the hell out of it. The city boundaries are sort of odd. They've annexed all up one highway just because there was a grocery store being built up there.

As for tags/licensing, in most counties (that I've lived in) the fees tend to run more like $65. So for two years that'd be $130, not that far off from what you're paying.

I'm just blown away reading this list. There's like NO taxes! Seriously you have NO idea unless you've been to hell...I mean New York. Hell, we charge you 8% (or more) sales tax on a bottle of soda plus a 5 cent deposit that you get back if you ever return the bottle. 80% of bottles are never returned.....guess where that nickel goes....Yup, into the great state NY's funds to pour down the drain.

We have property taxes and school taxes plus income taxes. And if they could figure out how to tax the air you breath they would. I'm sure someone is working on it.

Man, you guys have it good! My house is assessed for $221K (who thinks it would really sell for that?? not me!) and my school and property taxes are over $6K....I wonder what they will be this year.

And we won't even go into income taxes! If we pay $5K this year, that would be fabulous (said with GREAT sarcasm)

I think I need to pack my bags........when's this stupid economic situation gonna improve??

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by alleycat

The 800-pound gorilla is still the Federal Income Tax however.

Tell me about it! we bumped up a tax bracket this year because of my husband's company going back to private. He had a lot of stock shares that we didn't know about. They tax you on hte full value not what you actually got in your check! Talk about shock! I almost passed out when I saw what they took out. And of course this bumped us up to a higher - much higher - bracket. It's been fun doing our taxes this year. More like a crying session.

[alleycat]

It varies a lot from county to county, but in Nashville the property tax on a $211k house would be somewhere between $2110 and $2400 (depending on what part of the county someone lives in).

Remember though that while many of the costs are lower in Tennessee, so are the salaries generally, especially in the more rural areas. You really have to look at the overall picture; some people save quite a bit in real income moving to Tennessee, others save just a small amount after everything is taken into account.

[ss20ts]

Your gas tax is only $0.20???????????? OMG!!! PLEASE send some of your finance whizzes to NY! I've always thought they were idiots and TN has confirmed this!

Tire fee is only $1.35????

I'm just blown away by this list. It's absolutely amazing! Fascinating stuff. I really can't wait to go to TN on my vacation in June! I may never leave.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

I'm just blown away reading this list. There's like NO taxes! Seriously you have NO idea unless you've been to hell...I mean New York. Hell, we charge you 8% (or more) sales tax on a bottle of soda plus a 5 cent deposit that you get back if you ever return the bottle. 80% of bottles are never returned.....guess where that nickel goes....Yup, into the great state NY's funds to pour down the drain.

We have property taxes and school taxes plus income taxes. And if they could figure out how to tax the air you breath they would. I'm sure someone is working on it.

Man, you guys have it good! My house is assessed for $221K (who thinks it would really sell for that?? not me!) and my school and property taxes are over $6K....I wonder what they will be this year.

And we won't even go into income taxes! If we pay $5K this year, that would be fabulous (said with GREAT sarcasm)

I think I need to pack my bags........when's this stupid economic situation gonna improve??

A home in Knoxville assessed at $221k would have annual property taxes of less than $2000. It costs $60'ish/year to register vehicles. Not bad, eh?

In my favorite town of Cookeville the property taxes are lower and the annual vehicle registration fee is something like $24.