Airline Pilot Central Forums

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)
-   Southwest (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/southwest/)
-   -   Hawaii flying (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/southwest/112765-hawaii-flying.html)

UALfoLIFE 04-15-2018 06:07 AM


Originally Posted by slimothy (Post 2572581)
Also failed to mention the $0.14/gal gas tax on our already astronomical gas prices, and the ever increasing cost to register vehicles. $450 for my 11 year old truck this year. Up by about $100 from last year.

Try 53 cents per gallon in CA.

Secondly the 13.3% bracket applies to those make more than 1 mil. No SWA pilot is making that on flying alone, nice try lol!

iahflyr 04-15-2018 06:58 AM


Originally Posted by iahflyr
CA state income tax is really not as bad as some people make it out to be. If you are married, the first $537,500 of your income is taxed at a marginal tax rate of 9.3%. However, California's income tax is highly progressive. The first $105,224 is taxed at an effective tax rate of only 4.4%. That's actually below average for many states. Even if you make 250k a year, your effective tax rate is 7.2% (Before any write-off's) For comparison, 43 out of 50 states charge state income tax, and the average effective state income tax rate is 5%.

State income tax is deductible on your federal taxes if you itemize. So if you're in a ~30% federal tax bracket, you'll get to write-off 30% of that 7.2% you paid in state taxes on your federal tax return. So your effective state tax rate would be 5%. Throw in some other federal write-offs (mortgage interest, charity, etc...), and your true effective state tax rate gets into the mid 4% range, depending on your situation, for making 250k.

California's property tax rate is also significantly lower than other states (Roughly 1% of the home value, and can not increase more than 2% annually). You'll find that owning property in California is also quite profitable.

People get all worked up over CA state income tax, but ~4.5% of your income if you make 250k is a very small price to pay for living in CA. It's worth it for the weather, scenery, things to do, beaches, mountains, wineries, you name it.


Originally Posted by UALfoLIFE (Post 2572588)
Where did you get your info from? It’s all wrong.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2017-Ca...ions.shtml#itr

Scroll down to Schedule Y (Married filing jointly). I think I used the 2016 numbers instead of 2017, but that doesn't make a difference (It actually means you pay slightly less than I quoted above). Care to tell me what you think is so wrong??


Originally Posted by ZeroTT
Sorry dude - state and local income tax deduction is now capped at $10k/yr for your federal return.

Yes, the GOP tax reform bill raised taxes on a lot of upper middle class taxpayers, especially pilots. I really hope it gets repealed, or they at least increase the SALT deduction above 10k. Whatever happened to the GOP being the party of no double taxation?? I remember when I used to vote for the GOP it was that way. Not anymore apparently.

However, if you make 250K, you have an effective CA state tax rate of 7.2%, that means your CA state income tax is 18k. However if you have any other federal deductions (charity, mortgage interest), it's even less. You can write-off 10k of it on your federal taxes. So maybe your true effective state tax rate goes from mid 4% to ~5%. It's still really not that much. Yes I would vote to lower it slightly, or hope that GOP tax reform is repealed or altered regarding the SALT deduction. But regardless, CA state income tax is not this monstrous thing most people make it out to be.

ANGFlight81 04-15-2018 07:09 AM


Originally Posted by Sluggo_63 (Post 2572535)
When you say, buy a small condo in NV, I hope you mean to live there, not just for the tax advantages even though you live in CA... MN came after NWA pilots hard a few years back for essentially the same thing. Living in MN, but had a small places in TN/FL/AK. Were claiming that they weren't MN residents.

Obviously. Every state is different but state law dictates that you’re in the state a min amount of days...

RJSAviator76 04-15-2018 08:07 AM

Personally, I don’t care for CA gas prices, CA sales tax, CA property tax, CA real estate prices, the nanny state government policies, CA DMV fees including car registration fees. CA income tax is merely an icing on the cake.

flensr 04-15-2018 12:13 PM


Originally Posted by ANGFlight81 (Post 2572639)
Obviously. Every state is different but state law dictates that you’re in the state a min amount of days...

CA state law is also based on if you're using/receiving any state benefits normally provided only to residents. Have any kids going to school in CA? If yes, then you need CA drivers license, CA car registration, and pay CA taxes, even if all of your income is derived from activities outside of the state.

Sux but that's what turned up when I researched moving to CA.

CA1900 04-15-2018 05:51 PM


Originally Posted by iahflyr (Post 2572631)
Whatever happened to the GOP being the party of no double taxation??

It elected Trump as its figurehead, who thinks that "punishing" residents of blue states is more important than anything else.

TerrainTerrain 04-15-2018 08:49 PM


Originally Posted by iahflyr (Post 2572518)
CA state income tax is really not as bad as some people make it out to be. If you are married

Doesn’t matter when you are married because your life is over.

Next question?

Sluggo_63 04-16-2018 05:37 AM


Originally Posted by ANGFlight81 (Post 2572639)
Obviously. Every state is different but state law dictates that you’re in the state a min amount of days...

Far be it for me to stick my hand in anybody’s personal financial chili, but California is ruthless when it comes to tracking down California residents who don’t pay California taxes. And just spending x amount of days away doesn’t persuade them in the least. I’m a FedEx guy, and I’ve heard all the iterations of the “I’m claiming TN residence (tax-free state) because...” you name it. Crash pad, vacation home, mail drop... California has bitten more of these guys than you care to know.

Are you married? Where does your wife live? Have kids? Where do they go to school? Go to church? Where’s the church? Etc., etc.

Not trying to preach, just trying to let you know that having a second home in a tax free state doesn’t make you a non-resident of the state where your “center of gravity” lies. Don’t want to see any more dudes get caught in that trap.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertw.../#6f4830b84e1a

TroutBum 04-17-2018 11:10 AM

As someone mentioned above, the State of Minnesota went hard after some NWA pilots who were claiming Alaska, Washington, etc. residency. The end result was some felony convictions -- and everything that comes with that.

http://www.postbulletin.com/pilot-co...0a4deb703.html

torpid0 04-17-2018 08:09 PM

I own a small little business in CA. Made around 5k gross last year. I missed my $25 corporation business fee by a few weeks. The penalty....$25 + $250 late fee!!! No wonder people don't want to do business in CA.

Lived in CA all my life and have always loved it but Gov. Brown and the coastal elites have pushed me to my breaking point. Will probably move to Nevada or Arizona in the next few years.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:58 PM.


Website Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands