How Do
Florida’s
IF YOU ARE UP IN THE AIR over where to retire, relocate or pur- chase a second home, Florida certainly should be somewhere near the top of your list of places to land. After all, the Sunshine State offers
a wealth of warm, sunny days, an array of beautiful beaches and a wide variety of interesting things to do and see. But even if sun, sand, surf and Disney are your cup of tea, your final decision on where to spend a good part of the rest of your life probably will be based on economic factors. Can you afford to live in Florida? A closer look at the way the state taxes its residents might help you decide. You should consider how much
you would have to pay in income taxes, which part of your Social Security ben- efits and other pension distributions would be turned over to government entities and how much you would have to fork over in property taxes. And, while you’re doing this all-important research, you should find out about state and local sales taxes, which take a bite out of your spending power every
Taxes $tack
time you make a purchase that doesn’t involve food or drugs. As it turns out, according to HY-
PERLINK “
http://www.kiplinger.com”
www.kiplinger.com, many retirees choose Florida for reasons other than the warm weather. Tere is no state income tax, which is a major plus, of course, and an annoying levy on certain types of investments was jettisoned in 2007. Retirement income is not taxed, there is no state inheritance tax and the estate tax is limited. Florida’s property taxes are 24th among the 50 states, according to the Tax Foundation, but the average tax bill of $1,860 on a house valued at $218,700 in 2008 was nowhere near the amount paid by residents of, say, New Jersey ($6,320) or Connecticut ($4,603). Median property taxes for the entire country were at $1,897. Florida residents are eligible for a homestead exemption of up to $50,000, and additional exemptions are available to widows and widow- ers, persons with disabilities, disabled veterans and senior citizens.
Up? If a home does not change owner-
ship, annual increases in its assessed value are limited to 3 percent of the previous year’s assessment or the change in the Consumer Price Index. Florida’s sales tax, aimed at col- lecting as much revenue as possible from visitors, also affects its residents. Te state sales tax, which is not levied on food and prescription and non- prescription drugs, is 6 percent. With county sales taxes added in, the rate can climb as high as 9.5 percent in some places in the Sunshine State. Gasoline taxes, including those
levied by federal, state and local govern- ment entities, are 52.4 cents per gallon in Florida, much lower than Califor- nia’s 67.4 cents but higher than New Jersey, which has the lowest gas tax among the states at 32.9 cents. Florida’s smokers pay a tax of $1.34 per pack for their cigarettes, which is below the average state tax of $1.45. And, in Florida, there is no tax on
sunshine.
www.RetiringToFlorida.com |
www.MillionDollarHomesInFlorida.com |
www.FloridaCondoLiving.net
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