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No, they're significantly lower than the mainland. There's an effort underway to revamp the assessment process, since it had been based for decades, on replacement costs based in 1957. It is a source of great under-appraising. The island is poor by per capita mainland standards, so the denizenry relies on relatively low property taxes to maintain a semblance of homesteading.
Home values in the metro are higher than the median wage in the island should support, making a lot of people house poor. But that dynamic is also typical of the mainland.
COL in the San Juan MSA will still be higher than non-coastal mainland, mainly due to inefficient electricity production, high excise and sales/use taxes, and gargantuan income tax rates for anybody making a mainland median income or higher (Act 20/22 carpetbaggers notwithstanding), with a lot of evasion and under-capturing ensuing as a result.
But for a vacation home pursuit, the costs are quite manageable compared to Hawaii for instance.
Thank you so much!
Your answer is very insightful; I really do appreciate it.
I’m investigating if my small retirement pension will carry further on the island.
That will completely depend on what the tax situation is on the state you're comparing against, and the level of housing cost you are aiming to acquire in PR vis a vis the prevailing housing you're comparing against in the mainland.
I'm a PR native, and I was economically pushed out by these dynamics as a college aged young adult. I suppose a retiree has different needs. The tax structure does not entice me to return, especially as an above median future pensioner myself. In PR you have to be taxable income poor to materialize the gains of living in paradise, or cheat on your taxes like a lot of white collar professionals do on the regular down there. My parents are double pensioners down there, and they dont cheat on their return. As such, the tax numbers for what amounts to two measly 80k earners in working life 20 years ago, would take your breath away. Ditto what they spend in utilities for two sedentary septuagenarians that no longer go anywhere for leisure. They also admit they couldn't buy their own home today, which is another way of saying they have golden handcuffs. In reality they're too old culturally to go wither in Florida with no cultural ties, so I don't blame them. It is a tragedy we cannot be together more often, as I love them but I have to feed my family. They know their pensions are no longer available to my generation, so they have to eat the reasons why I had to leave and get to do without the company of their child in old age. Life ain't fair type of thing. We all lose something.
Not saying i condone (tax evasion) it, but I understand where it comes from. But you can't have income tax rates that compete with federal+California combined effective tax burden, in a place with a per capita income 1/3 of that of MS. Federal agencies have to regularly institute specific sign on bonuses to keep the place staffed due to the tax implications compared to doing the same federal job in the mainland. I could go on but you get my point.
Non-MIAMI MSA South central Florida gets you most of the temperature climate gain for a lot less money. That state is a zoo in its own right for different reasons, but since we're talking straight cost comparisons, it bears mentioning it as a warm climate alternative to PR.
Consult the departamento de hacienda publications online to see if your pension source is tax exempt down there. Im almost positive it is not. Then run the numbers and see if you can stomach living comfortably on the take home it nets you.
That will completely depend on what the tax situation is on the state you're comparing against, and the level of housing cost you are aiming to acquire in PR vis a vis the prevailing housing you're comparing against in the mainland.
I'm a PR native, and I was economically pushed out by these dynamics as a college aged young adult. I suppose a retiree has different needs. The tax structure does not entice me to return, especially as an above median future pensioner myself. In PR you have to be taxable income poor to materialize the gains of living in paradise, or cheat on your taxes like a lot of white collar professionals do on the regular down there. My parents are double pensioners down there, and they dont cheat on their return. As such, the tax numbers for what amounts to two measly 80k earners in working life 20 years ago, would take your breath away. Ditto what they spend in utilities for two sedentary septuagenarians that no longer go anywhere for leisure. They also admit they couldn't buy their own home today, which is another way of saying they have golden handcuffs. In reality they're too old culturally to go wither in Florida with no cultural ties, so I don't blame them. It is a tragedy we cannot be together more often, as I love them but I have to feed my family. They know their pensions are no longer available to my generation, so they have to eat the reasons why I had to leave and get to do without the company of their child in old age. Life ain't fair type of thing. We all lose something.
Not saying i condone (tax evasion) it, but I understand where it comes from. But you can't have income tax rates that compete with federal+California combined effective tax burden, in a place with a per capita income 1/3 of that of MS. Federal agencies have to regularly institute specific sign on bonuses to keep the place staffed due to the tax implications compared to doing the same federal job in the mainland. I could go on but you get my point.
Non-MIAMI MSA South central Florida gets you most of the temperature climate gain for a lot less money. That state is a zoo in its own right for different reasons, but since we're talking straight cost comparisons, it bears mentioning it as a warm climate alternative to PR.
Consult the departamento de hacienda publications online to see if your pension source is tax exempt down there. Im almost positive it is not. Then run the numbers and see if you can stomach living comfortably on the take home it nets you.
Cheers!
I hear you. This is what the underground economy means in the island. I don't condom tax evasion but when the government puts people in that scenario and has a boot on your neck, you have to do what you have to do to make the numbers work for you and your loved ones to survive. You have 3 choices, move out of the island or tax evasion or get used to having the government keeping you poor and dependent. You don't have much choice. That's why I saw the writing on the wall and left the moment I got my H.S. diploma for the military and never looked back. I was accepted to 4 colleges in the island (being approved with Pell Grants helps a lot) but I took off and used the GI Bill in the states.
Dealing with Hacienda in the island is something else. That's straight up Twilight Zone.
Last edited by SanJuanStar; 03-25-2021 at 06:09 PM..
That will completely depend on what the tax situation is on the state you're comparing against, and the level of housing cost you are aiming to acquire in PR vis a vis the prevailing housing you're comparing against in the mainland.
I'm a PR native, and I was economically pushed out by these dynamics as a college aged young adult. I suppose a retiree has different needs. The tax structure does not entice me to return, especially as an above median future pensioner myself. In PR you have to be taxable income poor to materialize the gains of living in paradise, or cheat on your taxes like a lot of white collar professionals do on the regular down there. My parents are double pensioners down there, and they dont cheat on their return. As such, the tax numbers for what amounts to two measly 80k earners in working life 20 years ago, would take your breath away. Ditto what they spend in utilities for two sedentary septuagenarians that no longer go anywhere for leisure. They also admit they couldn't buy their own home today, which is another way of saying they have golden handcuffs. In reality they're too old culturally to go wither in Florida with no cultural ties, so I don't blame them. It is a tragedy we cannot be together more often, as I love them but I have to feed my family. They know their pensions are no longer available to my generation, so they have to eat the reasons why I had to leave and get to do without the company of their child in old age. Life ain't fair type of thing. We all lose something.
Not saying i condone (tax evasion) it, but I understand where it comes from. But you can't have income tax rates that compete with federal+California combined effective tax burden, in a place with a per capita income 1/3 of that of MS. Federal agencies have to regularly institute specific sign on bonuses to keep the place staffed due to the tax implications compared to doing the same federal job in the mainland. I could go on but you get my point.
Non-MIAMI MSA South central Florida gets you most of the temperature climate gain for a lot less money. That state is a zoo in its own right for different reasons, but since we're talking straight cost comparisons, it bears mentioning it as a warm climate alternative to PR.
Consult the departamento de hacienda publications online to see if your pension source is tax exempt down there. Im almost positive it is not. Then run the numbers and see if you can stomach living comfortably on the take home it nets you.
Cheers!
I too am a septuagenarian retiree and my income is social security plus dividends from investments. I would like to retire, perhaps in the mountains of PR, but am distressed by your message. With an income of only about $50,000 a year, would I be able to have a nice house in the mountains somewhere without being house poor or would I be taxed to death? I've never been to PR but my searches indicate that Cayey has a tolerable climate. (I don't much like heat and humidity nor am I a beach person, so I'd be looking for something in the coolest (chilliest, not hip-est) spot on the island. Thanks
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