Stateline: Illinois “mixed” on taxes for seniors; Iowa “not tax friendly”
media mentionDespite the trend, Meg Wiehe, state tax policy director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which surveyed senior tax breaks, said all of the efforts to have “blanket state tax preferences for elderly taxpayers is . a very ill-advised policy.”
She also pointed out that states which shield retirement income – Social Security and pensions, for example – while still taxing wages, are favoring the rich over the poor. “You are ignoring low-income seniors who have to continue to work past traditional retirement age because they don’t have the savings that others have,” she said.