Skins_Brew
loves the smell of cosmo
That boxing tax crap is a trip.....
Very interesting, and thanks for sharing! A lot of it is speculation for me right now, but York and Adams Counties are in my sights for certain. Did you own property while in PA?
So I sold my house in White Marsh in 2013 and am renting (sort of) a house in Cambridge right now. My understanding is that since it was my primary residence, anything under $250k that I make from the sale (made less than 100K) is non-taxable.
So that money is being used as a DP/closing for a new house across the PA line.
Someone I know at work, though, said that they were also planning to move to PA, but MD tried to hit them with a "relocation tax". I can't find any Google reference to such a tax.
Does such a thing exist? Or is it just something that someone was CALLING a "relocation tax" because they got a lot of equity out of selling their house, enough that it was taxable because they didn't re-buy in MD?
Moved up here in 08, never regretted it for a minute. No relocation tax, but beware of turning plates in, and changing insurance over. Pretty much everyone up here from MD will get the "insurance violation fine" letter. I documented everything, paid to have 2 days of insurance overlap, turned in plates, got receipt in MD, got PA plates, dotted every I, crossed every T. Still got a letter for each of my 3 vehicles, MVA's own receipts and records didn't matter. Of course after they "suspended" my non existant MD license and had $3,000 in fines. Took a year to fix it, USAA going to court for me, and now all is well, but not without a huge headache
Noted.
Good to know that USAA went to bat for you, I also am a member and will be keeping this in mind for the future.
Moved up here in 08, never regretted it for a minute. No relocation tax, but beware of turning plates in, and changing insurance over. Pretty much everyone up here from MD will get the "insurance violation fine" letter. I documented everything, paid to have 2 days of insurance overlap, turned in plates, got receipt in MD, got PA plates, dotted every I, crossed every T. Still got a letter for each of my 3 vehicles, MVA's own receipts and records didn't matter. Of course after they "suspended" my non existant MD license and had $3,000 in fines. Took a year to fix it, USAA going to court for me, and now all is well, but not without a huge headache
USAA is awesome, and they really helped out, said it happens all the time with MD. Basically moved on 6-6, MD insurance was paid up and effective till 6-8, PA insurance started 6-6, drove on MD plates and got PA license, tags and registration on 6-6, turned in 3 sets of MD tags on 6-7 proven by the MVA's receipt. around the holidays got the first letter from MD showing my registration wasn't processed for a week after turning them in and getting a receipt, 6-12, and 4 days of alleged no insurance. Called, showed the receipt, they said they mean nothing, they "only give reciepts to make people feel better" (exact words). I also had the refund check for the remaining time on my MD tags with a 6-7 return date. There is an official form USAA had to send showing my insurance in compliance, they sent it 3 times, every time I got a letter. The last letter was almost a year later, $9,000 in fines going to a collection agency, USAA filed a lawsuit through their legal department, and haven't heard anything since. My wife got a letter, but they gave up after her insurance faxed the form once, neighbors had to fax theirs in twice, a and 4 out of 5 co-workers that made the jump to PA got the insurance scam letter from MVA. Needless to say, if I ever get stuck moving back to MD, my registration will say Pedro de il legalle
I've been l.ooking at retiring somewhere in proximity to MD but outside the state where taxes and gun laws are more favorable. One of my problems with PA is the freaking school tax. A couple areas I looked at had a school tax like 6k for a 200k home. With homestead credits in AA County (and garbage collect, rain tax etc that are collected as part of property tax) my estimated tax for next year is 2600 on a 300k+ home. It's caused me to look elsewhere.I've done the living in PA thing before.
My state tax rate was 3.07%, my local tax being 1.65%.
In Maryland, my marginal tax rate is 4.75% and my local tax rate is 2.56% in Anne Arundel Co.
Kept quite a few more Benjamin's in my pocket in PA, especially with astronomically lower auto insurance. Note that the tax brackets I pulled were for the same salary range in each state, so there's no disparity between brackets. Even with the 1% Occupation tax, it's still way cheaper than living in Maryland. I should also note that I'm not a property owner, so I speak to income tax alone.
Note also that PA doesn't tax clothing purchased in the state, so long as it isn't formal evening wear.
I lived up here for 3 months before swapping tags, but I'd already swapped insurance... It just took mailing my insurance binder to the MVA and it all got cleared up.