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Mixing a pay raise with downsizing can do wonders for a financial situation. It’s pretty incredible. Throw in a favorable tax code, and we can start talking about some real money. I am told you are officially ‘old’ when taxes become a regular point of conversation. I like to think I have wisdom beyond my years. But I do find it an interesting subject, and I continue to be surprised just how different the tax structure can be from state to state.

I have lived thrived under four different state income tax jurisdictions: Michigan, Tennessee, North Carlina, and New Hampshire. This last move brought us up to New Hampshire from North Carolina about four years ago now. That’s a full high school career — time flies.

We accidentally landed in a state that has absolutely no taxes on W2 income. “Live free or die,” they say here in New Hampshire.

Not exactly all income is sheltered, though. New Hampshire will hit interest and dividend income with a 5% tax at the $4,800 mark. We came close to that cliff in 2020 by tallying $4,288 in taxable dividend income. They don’t touch capital gains here.

So up until now, we have not paid a dime to New Hampshire in income taxes. North Carolina, on the other hand? That state always seemed to take their fair share of my income out of my pocket.

I like to say we accidentally landed in this scenario. I knew during the interview process there were no state income taxes here, but it did not drive the decision to move. It has been a pleasant surprise, though, that got me wondering – how much would I have paid in state income taxes if we stayed in North Carolina?

The math doesn’t lie. Our current situation has saved us over $20,000 in tax expense over the last four years.

North Carolina State Income Taxes

An article recently hit my google news feed suggesting North Carolina tax revenue has soared as they have moved out of the pandemic. They are expecting a $6.5 billion windfall by mid-2023. That’s a big number.

I had to look back at how the Tar Heel state taxed us to remember the specifics. It is a pretty simple system.

North Carolina takes the adjusted gross income (AGI) from our federal tax return, subtracts a standard state deduction, and taxes the remaining amount at a flat 5.25%. The tax percentage and deduction amount have moved around a bit in recent years, but the methodology has remained the same. 

So as an example, if a married couple had an adjusted gross income of $100,000 in 2020, the state would have taxed them $4,121 on that income.

$100,000 (Adjusted Gross Income) – $21,500 (NC deduction) = $78,500 X 5.25% = $4,121 Tax

Equations not your thing? They have a nice spreadsheet to help figure it out.

Is $4,000 enough to make you cry?

New Hampshire State Income Taxes

In New Hampshire, this tax simply does not exist. There is no equation. There is no spreadsheet. We pay $0.00 in state W2 income taxes.

But they must make up for it somewhere, right? Here in New Hampshire, they tend to tax consumption instead of personal income. Therefore, we need to keep an eye on our consumption.  

But with a state sales tax of 0%, where are they getting their revenue?

The state collects most (67%) of its General and Education Tax Trust Fund tax revenue from business taxes (30%), property taxes (14%), meals and rooms taxes (15%), and tobacco taxes (8%). I can make an argument that none of these taxes touch us materially. That interest and dividend 5% tax I mentioned above covers only 4% of the state’s general fund. I call the meals and rooms tax a ‘tourist tax’.

When you have a reasonable standard of living, the tax drag on your consumption is minor. We do not consume tobacco. We very rarely eat out or stay in hotels in our home state. As for the business tax, I suppose some businesses could pass some of their taxes on to us. But again, it’s not material when you don’t consume much.

What About Dividends?

One thing we are having a difficult time managing is dividend income hitting our taxable brokerage accounts. Last year didn’t help.

The Max Out of Pocket crew should easily pass $4,800 in dividends in 2021. The passive income generated from my medical office building REIT portfolio will likely push us over the tax cliff this year. The NH dividend tax is a flat 5% on anything over $4,800. The threshold is $2,400 if you are single. So as an example, if our dividends hit $5,800, we will pay the state $50.

Whoop dee doo. I will probably pay turbo tax more than that to file the paperwork.

$5,800 dividends – $4,800 (tax free) = $1,000 taxed x 5% = $50.00 Tax

Property Taxes 

Oh, but you must be paying deeply with property tax, right Max?

For us, the answer is no. But this is where New Hampshire can do some real damage to your tax bill. They have the highest property tax rate in the country.

We do not own a house here; we rent. Sure, our landlord would theoretically pass some of their tax burden (~$2,800) to us, but I am also calling that immaterial. Plus, we were already paying a decent chunk of property tax down south.

We owned a place in North Carolina, and we paid approximately $1,800 in property taxes to the state back in 2016. We also paid about $1,500 to the state of North Carolina in 2014 and 2015. I just looked it up, and Zillow suggests property taxes on that house are way up to $2,138 now. I also need to stress; this would be in addition to our 5.25% flat income tax. So it cancels out. Even if our current landlord passed some of their $2,800 tax burden on us, it would not come even close to $2,000.

When we moved here, we downsized pretty dramatically. We are paying the same rent I was spending way back in 2006 when you divide it by two people.

As for our cars? New Hampshire does hit us on a tax there. But when you drive vehicles that are more than a decade old, that also becomes immaterial. Last year we paid about $250 for our cars, not much more than we paid in North Carolina.  

So How Much Have We Saved?

Although I took a significant pay increase with our move to New Hampshire, I think I could have landed a similar job opportunity in North Carolina. So, assuming equal income in both states, we have saved over $21,000 in state income taxes since moving out of North Carolina. That amount will continue to grow.

The difference would be even more significant if we had not maxed out our tax-deferred retirement accounts most of those years. Those contributions reduced our adjusted gross income over the last four years by about $90,000 or more. North Carolina would have gotten a 5.25% piece of that if we still lived there and did not put it aside.

Total Tax Burden by State

I found this cool table over on WalletHub that tracks the overall tax burden by state. They measure the proportion of total personal income that residents pay towards state and local taxes. It includes income, property, and sales tax in the equation and is reported back as a percentage. New York has the highest tax burden, and Alaska has the lowest.   

I pulled a few out by overall rank for both your viewing pleasure and mine.

• #1 – New York – 12.79%
• #34 – North Carolina – 8.07%
• #46 – New Hampshire – 6.84%
• #50 – Alaska – 5.10%

So $100,000 in personal income is worth $87,300 in New York and $94,900 in Alaska after taxes? Do that for 50 years, and you are looking at $380,000, not including investment returns. Yes, I know it’s not that simple.

It is worth noting Tennessee is ranked #49, and I lived there from 2006-2008. Michigan came in 24th place.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot more than money to consider here. Frankly, $20,000 over four years is not even close to enough money to dictate where we live. But these numbers do matter, and it is certainly something to know and understand. As income increases, these decisions do become more material.

In theory, a good chunk of this $20,000 was fully invested in the stock market and worth much more than $20,000 today.

Where federal taxes are relatively standardized, the state tax systems vary wildly.

I find myself liking the idea of a ‘consumption’ tax over ‘income’ tax. Incentivizing people to lower their consumption is a good move for the environment. That said, I have lived happily under both systems. I enjoyed my time down in North Carolina and think it is a great place to be. But this has been a nice little bonus to our current living situation that has added up over the last four years.

Who knows? With the increase in remote work opportunities, perhaps setting up shop in the live free or die state makes sense?  

How much do you pay your state in taxes?  

Tags: North CarolinaState Taxes