How do I find out if GA is cheaper tax wise than NY? (Atlanta: cul-de-sac, HOA fees) - Georgia - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

livinginbuffalo · 10-24-2010, 11:49 AM

but I pay about $16,000 in real estate taxes on a $675,000 house. I KNOW I can get the same size house there for less and the real estate taxes will be almost a third.

I just wonder about my husbands paycheck and other factors like insurance, taxes etc. Obviously, we will be getting a raise to move there but wonder if it's enough to uproot our whole family from here where my family is and the schools are a big concern for me in GA. You say the car insurance is higher there in GA? That would surprise me. I'm sure the gas would be less for cars. Right now it's about $2.92 for regular but we don't have long commutes to work and I am a stay at home mom so the gas isn't really a big factor for us. Our sales tax here is 8.875%. I believe it is a few percent less there. I don't know. We are still on the fence about this. My husbands company is possibly closing but he is guaranteed about a year there still with a nice check at the end but not sure we can pass something up down there if we have it available. It's hard to know what to do.

arjay57 · 10-24-2010, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livinginbuffalo

Obviously, we will be getting a raise to move there but wonder if it's enough to uproot our whole family from here where my family is and the schools are a big concern for me in GA.

What schools are you worried about? The schools in North Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett are as good as public schools anywhere.

From the tax standpoint you'll be saving a bundle in Georgia.

flyonpa · 10-24-2010, 05:35 PM

https://etax.dor.ga.gov/salestax/sal...hart_Moore.pdf Sales Tax Rate by County. All Metro Atlanta Counties are 7%. The City of Atlanta Has a additional 1% added to places within the city limits.

Auto Ins is a bit higher then then I paid in PA. But have a bigger car now. Gas is 2.79 a gal in metro ATL, Income Taxes is 6% but if you open a 529 plan 2K is credited as a detuction, so thats a nice 6% bonus. Home owner taxes are lower my PA house & GA house are about the same value, and my GA taxes are 20%lower. Also Going into North Fulton, South Forsyth are not a real bad drive to SS Rush hour is about 30-45m to SS. A 1 yr, of a job in ATL, is riskly, Depending on what he does, and where those types of jobs are. But if he;s losing his job in NY, I guess having a job in is good. But I would start socking away the cash now, just in case.

livinginbuffalo · 10-24-2010, 07:56 PM

it's the job in Buffalo that he's got only for a year left guaranteed. If company is sold, he could be retained but also could not be so it's a gamble.

I still have a hard time basing GA vs. NYS schools on any kind of greatschools.org. Your schools take GA standardized tests which are not the same as NY standardized tests. I have heard from some Buffalo transplants to GA that you will not get a NYS education. We moved from another county in this area to the school district we are in because it's the top in our area so schools are very important to us. Also, here a private school is not necessarily better just smaller. We wouldn't be making enough to move to take on an additional $12K per year for private school per kid. It just wouldn't make sense to have to pay that out. I want to tread lightly because I feel bad bashing schools I have no idea about but can only go on what I know from people I went to high school with here that have moved there.

Anyway, we're still checking things out and haven't decided what we are going to do. I really appreciate all the help. I KNOW I would meet wonderful people and be able to live in a great neighborhood with other great families and so I am not worried about that in the least. More worried about leaving my own family here and what is best for our kids. It's hard to know what to do. Thanks again

testa50 · 10-24-2010, 08:23 PM

One thing that's not negligible is the HOPE scholarship (not sure how long until your kids are in college). You essentially get 100% tuition paid if you keep a 3.0 GPA and go to an in state school--Georgia Tech, UGA, Georgia State, etc. These universities are rapidly improving as a result--UGA and Georgia Tech are now two of the best public schools in the south. This can be a pretty ridiculous benefit to living in Georgia--$30k easily.

livinginbuffalo · 10-24-2010, 08:58 PM

but I hadn't even looked into what colleges and if they were good colleges or not. My kids are young but we have already started socking away for college so that is a complete plus!

YBF · 10-25-2010, 10:55 AM

PaycheckCity.com | Paycheck Calculator

livinginbuffalo · 10-25-2010, 04:40 PM

doesn't show a marked difference at all. So his paycheck won't be different (if I base it on same salary) but I still have no idea if that affects our state tax return? Some of those spots you have to fill out are numbers I have no idea about like number of deductions. I have no clue what those would be. Even when I got to the G-4 form, I still don't know what it would be. I guess I'd have to read how to fill them out in detail to really figure this all out. Thanks though.

windsorslp · 10-25-2010, 09:05 PM

we used paycheckcity.com to approximate my take home pay and it ended up being pretty accurate once I go my first paycheck.

A friend of mine is from rochester,NY and she finds it cheaper here overall - the only exception is the gas and electric which are a bit higher.

windsorslp · 10-25-2010, 09:10 PM

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf - this is what we used to approximate our deductions - of course there are others though - you are only going to be able to get a rough estimate but it won't be way off -

Oh and don't worry about the schools if you live in north fulton - they are great - I know people from NY and NJ who are really happy with the education their kids are getting.