Politifact: Is Georgia tax-friendly state for retirees?
media mention“Norton Francis, a senior research associate with the Urban Institute’s State and Local Finance Initiative, said the ranking is likely “pretty much true,” largely because of Georgia’s generous pension exemption.
But both he and Carl Davis, research director with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said they questioned whether the Kiplinger rankings took into account that local governments in Georgia can levy up to a 4 percent sales tax, including on groceries.
Davis said those taxes on groceries could be more significant to seniors than the state’s estate tax exemption.
He also expressed concern that the most-to-least rankings ignore the diverse nature of retirees.
” A low-income senior living on Social Security is impacted by state and local taxes in a very different way than a middle-income person collecting a pension or a very high-income person living off their investments,” Davis said.”