Anyone else prepaying property taxes so you can still deduct them this year?

[cruiser21]

Also depends on public or private school. One of my kids is also a teacher, and his salary essentially doubled when he switched from teaching at a private school to a public school.

Teachers in AZ don't make a lot, but you can buy a nice house for under 200k if that's your budget. In some states you can't buy a closet for that much.

 

[wendow]

Wow. Property taxes as set by state law here in California. 1% of appraised value.

TX property taxes are capped at 4%. I don't know of anyone paying 4% but I know of some that are over 3%.

 

[wendow]

There's no state income tax in Texas.I would think it would all even out.
[

I'm not really sure if it does or not. We pay income tax here in CO but it's not anywhere close to what we'd be paying in property taxes on a similar priced home in TX. And we get a large part of the state income tax refunded every year. While we may not have to spend the same on a home in TX, some parts, especially around the cities of Austin and Dallas, are not really significantly cheaper.

 

[wendow]

Teachers in AZ don't make a lot, but you can buy a nice house for under 200k if that's your budget. In some states you can't buy a closet for that much.

What part of AZ has good home prices? Just curious as my dh goes there some for business and always comes back saying he wants to move there. I didn't realize housing was that reasonable.

 

[robinb]

THen remember that next time you vote for your state leaders. We in the the fiscally stable states have been subsidizing states (with our federal taxes) who aren’t financially responsible for years now (CA, NY, NJ, IL) so enough is enough

I'm curious. What state do you live in which you consider to be "fiscally stable"?

 

[Dakota731]

What state does your daughter teach in and how long has she been there? The difference in teacher salaries across this country AMAZES me. The district here base pay starts at $45,738 with a Bachelors degree and tops out at 20 years at $92,352.37. That is before stipends for a Masters Degree, teaching summer school, coaching a sport or leading a band or choir or teaching special ed. The average teachers in my district is $97,627 so the teachers must have a lot of tenure and stipends.

She’s a first year teacher in a southern state. Don’t get me started with teacher pensions. Here in our state in the northeast we have a big problem. Teachers can retire after 35 years with a pension 95% of their highest salary. So my sister retired at age 56 with a $100000 a year pension for the rest of her life which could be 40 more years plus health insurance! None of which she contributed to like we do with our 401k - it’s all taxpayer funded. That’s why our property taxes are so high and not sustainable. I know it’s not only teachers but any government employees. It’s a system that needs changed over to an employee contribution plan like most of the rest of the country has.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

What part of AZ has good home prices? Just curious as my dh goes there some for business and always comes back saying he wants to move there. I didn't realize housing was that reasonable.

Phoenix is reasonably priced although I'm not sure what salaries are like compared to the Denver area. DH considered interviewing for jobs there but he HATES the heat so he wouldn't be able to deal with the 120° heat they commonly have. You'd only be a 6 hour drive from Disneyland if you moved there!

 

[cruiser21]

What part of AZ has good home prices? Just curious as my dh goes there some for business and always comes back saying he wants to move there. I didn't realize housing was that reasonable.

Chandler. Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Mesa ,Buckeye, Awatuekee Goodyear. We live in a golf course community where prices range from 175,000 to 800k. You can find a house in a nice area in just about every price range. There are lots of new builds here. Lots of new areas. New roads new shops. We don't really have a downtown or inner city area. We were at the heart of the housing bubble and prices are just starting to recover. We bought our house 20 years ago for 170k which was expensive for the phoenix area at the time. It went up to 600k in 2005 and then came crashing back down to 225k. A lot of people were decimated. I think our house is in the low 300's now. It's about 3000 sq ft with a pool in nice neighborhood on a public golf course. Scottsdale and Paradise valley are more pricey. That's where you'll find a lot of baseball players and athletes living.

 

[Dakota731]

I just thanked my 16 month grandchild for this tax cut since he will be paying for it!

My two year old grandchild will be thanking me for the jobs this bill has created and retained in this country. His grandpa has seen his company outsource over half it’s jobs overseas during the past eight years and there is hope now that US companies will be able to fairly compete and prosper.

 

[cruiser21]

Phoenix is reasonably priced although I'm not sure what salaries are like compared to the Denver area. DH considered interviewing for jobs there but he HATES the heat so he wouldn't be able to deal with the 120° heat they commonly have. You'd only be a 6 hour drive from Disneyland if you moved there!

I work in healthcare my salaries better then a lot of the. country. Lots of older retired people out here. I don't know about other industries. The Summer is hot but after going to New York the first week of November I've decide the heats not so bad. I could not handle 6 months of cold weather. It rarely gets 120 maybe a few days out of the summer it's over 115 Most of the time it's around 105 to 110 and dry. 95 in Phoenix is like 80 in Florida. We do get rain and monsoons in July and August and the occasional night in the 30' s during the winter. You just need a pool and a good ac to get through the Summer.

 

[AmyAnne]

My two year old grandchild will be thanking me for the jobs this bill has created and retained in this country. His grandpa has seen his company outsource over half it’s jobs overseas during the past eight years and there is hope now that US companies will be able to fairly compete and prosper.

I really don't think the tax rate has much to do with where a company's jobs are (that's more about wages) but about where the company is incorporated. The tax cut is not going to make it cheaper to hire workers in the US but it might make it cheaper for companies to be headquartered and pay taxes in the US.

 

[melanielll]

One big advantage to Texas over California in the property taxes vs income tax debate is that you can choose to spend less on your house than your income allows. We live in what I consider to be a nice house. It is worth less than our annual salary. All of our income would be taxed with an income tax - we would not be able to control how exposed we were to the taxes.

 

[Albort]

i advised my parents to pay off their property tax this year... they have done so already. hopefully this works out the way it goes.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I work in healthcare my salaries better then a lot of the. country. Lots of older retired people out here. I don't know about other industries. The Summer is hot but after going to New York the first week of November I've decide the heats not so bad. I could not handle 6 months of cold weather. It rarely gets 120 maybe a few days out of the summer it's over 115 Most of the time it's around 105 to 110 and dry. 95 in Phoenix is like 80 in Florida. We do get rain and monsoons in July and August and the occasional night in the 30' s during the winter. You just need a pool and a good ac to get through the Summer.

Sorry, I did exaggerate a little bit! I'm from Southern California and it gets hot here and we go to spring training almost every March and it seems hot even then! My DH spent a couple of years in the Palm Springs area and said never again hence why he wouldn't consider Phoenix.

 

[arminnie]

One big advantage to Texas over California in the property taxes vs income tax debate is that you can choose to spend less on your house than your income allows. We live in what I consider to be a nice house. It is worth less than our annual salary. All of our income would be taxed with an income tax - we would not be able to control how exposed we were to the taxes.

I can't speak to all of California - but where I lived between San Francisco and Silicon Valley is absurdly expensive. And that is not a particularly "high value" area. I had people tell me my chosen home was "not the best place to live."

My home in University Park, TX (Dallas area) was just as expensive as my California home - but the difference is that there are many areas outside of the Park Cities (Highland Park and University Park) that are much less expensive. In California one has to go 60-70+ miles away to get something less expensive. I did not live in Palo Alto, Atherton or Hillsborough (high priced areas of Northern California).

There are lots of places across the nation (locally and long distance) where I might like to live. But I cannot afford to live there. Why try to live someplace where you can't afford to live?

 

[cruiser21]

Sorry, I did exaggerate a little bit! I'm from Southern California and it gets hot here and we go to spring training almost every March and it seems hot even then! My DH spent a couple of years in the Palm Springs area and said never again hence why he wouldn't consider Phoenix.

I get it. I grew up in Southern California. We moved here for lower cost of living. I don't think we'd have taken 18 Disney cruises including two in Europe and 10 trips to WDW had we stayed in California. We have good paying jobs, but not good enough to live in California and still travel. My dh misses surfing, but he took up golf. One thing we get that Palm Springs doesn't is afternoon thunderstorms in July and August. It cools it off a bit.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I get it. I grew up in Southern California. We moved here for lower cost of living. I don't think we'd have taken 18 Disney cruises including two in Europe and 10 trips to WDW had we stayed in California. We have good paying jobs, but not good enough to live in California and still travel. My dh misses surfing, but he took up golf. One thing we get that Palm Springs doesn't is afternoon thunderstorms in July and August. It cools it off a bit.

Oh, trust me - I get what you're saying! I'd love to move to a lower COL area. But that is a major deal breaker for him. We have had APs for DLR off and on but the kids started to not appreciate them. We take a big trip each year whether it be WDW or DCL or something else not Disney but we cut corners in other areas of life. We also do 2-4 smaller trips (Spring Training and visiting family in the Bay or Denver) a year.

His dream is actually to live in Denver where he can experience the 4 seasons but the COL is not too far off from where we are in Orange County any more so the pay cut he'd take in a similar position wouldn't justify the COL out there even if it is a bit less.

 

[supersnoop]

TX property taxes are capped at 4%. I don't know of anyone paying 4% but I know of some that are over 3%.

I don’t believe that’s true. I can’t think of anywhere that’s over 4%, but I don’t believe there’s a legislative cap. With MUD’s, ESD’s, healthcare districts and community colleges, that rate can get pretty high.

 

[punkin]

The big question is if the IRS will allow prepayment as a proper 2017 deduction at all.

 

[goodeats]

The big question is if the IRS will allow prepayment as a proper 2017 deduction at all.

In our county it's not technically prepayment. The 2017 taxes are due in two installments - one in Nov 17 and one in Apr 18. I'm just paying my Apr 18 payment before December 31st. Most counties won't take payment for the 2018 tax year if the assessment hasn't been performed.