Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
He is correct. It is not in their tax friendliness calculator
or they would include home values in their input variables. While they have a way to compare property taxes, they don't include property taxes in the overall calculator. They should.
They did, in fact, include home values in determining the tax friendliness of cities. From their methodology: We calculated the effective property tax rate by dividing median property tax paid by median home value for each city.
So to sum up, in determining the tax friendliness of an area, they analyzed how the tax policies of each city would impact a theoretical retiree who owns a median home for that particular city, and with an annual income of $50,000, composed of $15k from Social Security, $10k from a private pension, $10k in wages and $15k from an IRA/401k.
Age 58.75. I'm not even planning to withdraw from the 401K until 59.5. I'll just start taking the pension at 58.75.
So what I'm really trying to look at is the taxes from 59.5 and onward. I realize that's probably being to analytical, but I just wanted to look at it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blazin65
I've also checked some other states. It's just the Alabama versus Georgia that is sticking out like a sore thumb. For lack of a better term. Maybe SmartAsset made a mistake.
No, they didn't make a mistake; you just don't fit the profile of the theoretical retiree that they used to determine the tax friendliness of a particular city. That is why they also provided calculators for you to input your particular details to see what area works best for you. As I noted in my earlier response to your inquiry, it is possible for a retiree in Georgia to have a $100k income and pay absolutely nothing in income tax. It is also possible for a retiree in Georgia to have a $100k income and pay more than $5,000 in state income tax. It all depends on your age and source of retirement income.
In the first scenario above, Georgia would be very tax friendly; in the latter scenario, not so much.
As I noted in my earlier response to your inquiry, it is possible for a retiree in Georgia to have a $100k income and pay absolutely nothing in income tax. It is also possible for a retiree in Georgia to have a $100k income and pay more than $5,000 in state income tax. It all depends on your age and source of retirement income.
In the first scenario above, Georgia would be very tax friendly; in the latter scenario, not so much.
It looks like the calculator of SmartAsset would know this and compute it. It is asking the user to input pension, IRA, and SS. So when I enter for example 100K as a combo to all these, it would come up with the right answer. Or ask for more information. Like I said before apples to apples same information for Alabama and Georgia, Georgia is higher on income taxes.
It looks like the calculator of SmartAsset would know this and compute it. It is asking the user to input pension, IRA, and SS. So when I enter for example 100K as a combo to all these, it would come up with the right answer. Or ask for more information...
It looks like the calculator should know what? It works exactly as intended and did come up with the correct answer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blazin65
Like I said before apples to apples same information for Alabama and Georgia, Georgia is higher on income taxes.
Georgia would be higher on income taxes for you because you will still be in your 50s when you retire and will not benefit from the $35k (at age 62) or $65k (at 65+) retirement income exemption (in addition to Social Security income) that most retirees receive.
Georgia would be higher on income taxes for you because you will still be in your 50s when you retire and will not benefit from the $35k (at age 62) or $65k (at 65+) retirement income exemption (in addition to Social Security income) that most retirees receive.
OK that's the difference. I plugged in some fake date of births and the state income taxes changed. Goes down about half at 62 and then at 65 almost wipes out the state income tax for my scenario.
Thanks for the help.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
