Anyone care to discuss their state income tax?

I'll be honest, I didn't make enough the past few years to suffer from "Stelly Shock"-but a lot of people around the state are claiming that they were sold a bill of goods on this one, people...

Anyone have any firsthand experience now that we've moved past that dreaded April 15 deadline by a few weeks now?

Let's compare and contrast, if possible.

 

This won't work if you have a job and work for a wage but if you own a business it pays to incorporate in a state that has no state income taxes like Nevada or Florida.

I recommend the services of Nevada Corporate Planners

http://www.nvinc.com/

For about $1200 they will set up a Nevada Corporation with a corporate bank account for you and handle all the filing of paperwork. For a reasonable extra fee they will provide you with nominee corporate officers and you can still give yourself power of attorney over all of the corporations business.

If you are on a tight budget you can set up a Delaware corporation yourself online for about $50.

You will still have to pay Louisiana state income taxes on your income as an employee of an out of state corporation but you can keep your personal income low enough so that is a negligible amount.

If you really want to limit your personal liability you can issue the stock of your corporation to a foreign corporation or trust in a country like Panama.

You can set up a trust based on Panamanian laws at

http://www.pill.net for about $300

They are useful for the purpose of holding your corporate stock but don't try to receive payments due to them because they have a bad habit of losing incoming wire transfers.

 

Texas has no state tax....sorry. I feel your pain.

We probably make up for it in the school taxes we pay though, unreal I say.

 

I pay about $400 a month in property taxes up here in Texas. They say they don't have a state income tax, and that's true--but if you own a home, you pay dearly for NOT having the income tax.

 

Agreed. When we bought our house in the Houston Heights a couple of years ago, it was appraised much lower than the selling price. Well, they bumped up the appraisal about $50K and our property taxes went WAY up. To cover the escrow shortage from last year and provide for the estimated 2004 taxes, our monthly increase was $250 per month. Our house is going on the market in a couple of weeks.

I know I could've (and still might if possible) fought the appraisal increase but I don't know what I could say since we purchased the house so recently for (slightly) more than the current appraisal amount. We were going to move outside the city (Sugarland maybe) in the next few years anyway so this just speeds up the process. With the mortgage rates so low now and expected to increase in the next year, the writing's on the wall.

 

I paid $1008 and was not happy about it.

 

Everyone I know up here has had a huge property tax increase after their first year in their home.

My husband and I built our house, so for the first year, we were appraised and taxed at the value of the lot, around $50,000. The following year, our appraised value went up over $100, 000, and my husband almost went through our expensive roof! We were paying nearly $300 more a month on our mortgage.

He fought our appraisal the first year, and had the value decreased by about $5000, but when he tried it the next year, it was a no-go. In fact, we were told that one has to be careful up here because if the appraisal district knows of upgrades inside your house, like wood flooring or marble countertops, they'll increase appraisals, too.

They get this information from fliers, etc. when people are selling their houses, and of course, any outside improvements are readily noticeable.

 

It burned me. I had a marginal increase in income. I paid about $200 last year to the state. I am paying $700 this year. Needless to say, Mr. Stelly should be living in an underground bunker. I haven't really noticed that my grocery bills went down by an equivalent $500 a year. Hmmmmm.

 

So if you let your property go to hell they will lower your taxes but if you improve it your taxes get raised?

Do they have spys? Maybe the girl scout selling you cookies will report you for having a new fireplace. Have some new custom cabinets built and the carpenter will rat you out the the Housing Police. Do you dare to do any landscaping that anybody who drives by can see makes your yard look better?
Do you save money if you put off painting your house for a couple of years?

 

neither does florida. we pay for education through the lottery.....