I'm mulling a move to east of Cleveland and like the Chesterland area of Geauga county where, as I understand it, I would face lower county/local income taxes b/c living there would offset the income tax levied at my location of employment. I'd probably work in Lake county or in the city. I won't own property at first.

 

Does anyone know if living in Geauga county would amount to saving much if my income was between 50,000 and say up to that 85,300 level bracket?

I wouldn't mind living further north but want to be away from noise of any highway or RR, etc. Seems to me it would be maybe 1.5% or more saved. So if state income tax is that $950 or so plus 3.465% then adding what I believe is the muni rate of 2% for Geauga, I'd be paying that weird $950 plus 5.465% total. Is that right?

 

If there's not a big difference between living in Lake county I'd just live closer to work while I think about where to buy.

 

Thanks for any help on this. Really warming up to a return to friendlier environment of NE Ohio.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mac

You're always going to have to pay the city where you work first as far as income taxes go. Only on the portion that you send to where you live can be changed by moving. If the tax rate is higher where you work than where you live, you save zero by moving. Lets say you work in city X where the income tax rate is 1.5 percent. You live in city Y whose rate is 2%. 1.5 percent of your paycheck goes to X and 0.5% goes to Y. You move to Township Alpha which has no income tax since townships in Ohio cannot levy income taxes. Now 1.5% of your income goes to city X with no other income taxes. You save 0.5%. It's going to take a long time to pay off the move.

 

Now lets say you still work in city X at 1.5% but move to city Z whose income tax rate is 1%. You save nothing and city Z gets nothing since city X has a 1.5% rate, being higher.

 

I can't help with property taxes since that is particular to any given address almost.

Unless you have a company car, you may end up paying more in driving costs than saving in taxes...

http://newsroom.aaa.com/tag/driving-cost-per-mile/

I was just about to say the same thing as KJP.  Especially between Lake and Geauga counties, I doubt the tax difference is enough to offset the cost of driving further to work.  Also, as GCrites mentioned as well, income tax will be dependent upon the city you work in and you likely won't pay any where you live, regardless of whether you live in Lake or Geauga County.

 

Also, it's very possible that your property taxes could actually be lower in many parts of Lake County.  Combine that with a shorter commute, and I think it's the better choice.

You're always going to have to pay the city where you work first as far as income taxes go. Only on the portion that you send to where you live can be changed by moving. If the tax rate is higher where you work than where you live, you save zero by moving. Lets say you work in city X where the income tax rate is 1.5 percent. You live in city Y whose rate is 2%. 1.5 percent of your paycheck goes to X and 0.5% goes to Y. You move to Township Alpha which has no income tax since townships in Ohio cannot levy income taxes. Now 1.5% of your income goes to city X with no other income taxes. You save 0.5%. It's going to take a long time to pay off the move.

 

Now lets say you still work in city X at 1.5% but move to city Z whose income tax rate is 1%. You save nothing and city Z gets nothing since city X has a 1.5% rate, being higher.

 

I can't help with property taxes since that is particular to any given address almost.

 

This is not always the case. It depends on what agreement a particular city has with another. For example, if you work in Cleveland--you pay 2.5%. and if you live in Lakewood--i think its 2%. Since you paid a bunch to CLE already, Lakewood gives you a 0.5% credit---so you pay Lakewood 1.5% instead of 2%---but you certainly don't pay 0% because CLE's rate is higher than Lakewood's.

 

Ultimately we're talking about 0-2% of your income, which you said was less than 80k. So not a lot of money---so you must consider other financial factors like gas money, wear and tear on your car, (no real mass transit in Geuaga County), time of commute, as well as non-financial things like quality of life---for example, type of neighbors (Geauga is pretty Republican), stigma of living in the boondocks, etc.

Hmm, so if I'm interpreting that right, someone working in Cleveland and living in Lakewood pays a total of 4% (2.5 Cleveland + 1.5 Lakewood)? Central Ohio works differently. Say I worked in Columbus (2.5%) but lived in Groveport (2%), Columbus gets 2.5% and Groveport gets nothing. But I work in Lancaster (1.75%) and live in Groveport. So Lancaster gets 1.75% and Groveport gets 0.25% to get me to Groveport's 2%.

If we're talking about INCOME tax, one should be taxed where he/she works, but for the suburbs to get money, they charge you as well. After all, suburbs provide residents with services like police, garbage collection and street snow removal---should that really be free? 

 

 

Lakewood residents pay 3.5% if they work in Cleveland.  2.5% + 1.0%.  Lakewood's rate is 1.5% with a credit of .5%.

If we're talking about INCOME tax, one should be taxed where he/she works, but for the suburbs to get money, they charge you as well. After all, suburbs provide residents with services like police, garbage collection and street snow removal---should that really be free? 

 

 

 

Oh, I can certainly see where that can become an issue if the suburb has few jobs of its own. Here in Groveport there are so many warehouse jobs that the income from all of those workers dwarfs what the city could make if it fully taxed residents that worked in other cities. The city population is a little over 5000, but the number of jobs is several times that before you include seasonal work (of which there is a ton).