David,
Thanks so much for your words of wisdom. How right you are about not
reducing ones income to avoid taxes. I am recently retired but have
numerous modest investments (stocks, real estate, and two airplanes). I
received some correspondence from a developer/pilot in Tennessee. TN is
49th in state taxes with Alaska (petroleum rich) being 50th. That is good.
My wife and I spent some time in TN two years ago and loved it there. Don't
know what it would be like to live there though. Well, we don't have to
make a decision immediately, so will continue to gather more info.
Again thanks for you words of wisdom. They're greatly appreciated,
Chuck
_____
From: owner-rv-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-rv-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of
d-burton@comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:43 AM
To: rv-list@matronics.com
Subject: Re: Taxes
It will make a huge difference what your personal situation is. Are you
working? Do you have substantial investments? Income? Own a home? A
business?
We all pay on average about 42% of our income in taxes each year. (Not
income taxes. All taxes in total). Everybody in developed countries does.
This comes as a big surprise to most people.
You can look at your personal situation and find the best way to maximize
your income and minimize your tax obligation. Just be careful that you
don't figure out how to pay a tiny amount of tax at the expense of earning a
tiny amount of money. What is important at the end of the day is what
remains in your pocket...
This article was written for retirees but can give you some things to think
about and resources to do some additional research on different states:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/retirementandwills/p45875.asp
The other problem is that things don't stay the same forever. My state
(Washington) which has the same budget problems most other states do at the
moment has looked and the "wealthy" airplane owners who are not paying their
"fair share" of taxes and is proposing to add a huge use tax to aircraft
this year.
Florida (where I have lived twice) is great and I'm considering living there
again at least part time has incredibly low taxes. Unfortunately since
taxes have been chopped to unsustainable levels, and there is not adequate
revenue to support what little government services there are there, at some
point in the near future things are likely to change dramatically for the
worse.
I think finding a place friendly to aviation with good flying weather may
drive the decision.
DavidB
RV6
