State Representative Joseph Trillo (R-Warwick) has introduced legislation to eliminate the personal income tax for all Rhode Island retirees.
“There are Rhode Islanders who are leaving our …
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State Representative Joseph Trillo (R-Warwick) has introduced legislation to eliminate the personal income tax for all Rhode Island retirees.
“There are Rhode Islanders who are leaving our state because of the burdening tax code. Changes are needed before more of our population relocates. We are exporting people from our society and importing people who need to be taken care of. By eliminating the personal income tax on retiring Rhode Islanders, we will stop the mass exodus to other more tax-friendly states. Keeping these individuals will increase personal spending in Rhode Island, which will have a substantial effect upon our economy,” said Trillo in a release.
“Rhode Island has one of the highest tax rates in the country,” said Trillo.
According to the Tax Foundation, Rhode Island ranks as the 8th highest taxed state in the nation.
“Rhode Islanders need relief,” he said. “People are mobile and will leave for better opportunities and lower taxes. We must provide a reason for them to stay in our state. Once they leave, they take with them their spending, property taxes and contributions to our economy.”
The bill specifically targets Rhode Islanders who have reached full retirement age as determined by the Federal Social Security Office. There are a number of states that already exempt some form of retirement income. Rhode Island is at an economic disadvantage to these states.
“Rhode Islanders have been voting with their feet. In order to stop this population drain, we need to start paying attention to other states and make Rhode Island comparable,” he said.
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patientman
Eliminate or in the very least get our death tax in line with the federal governments thresholds. I'm okay with exempting a part of peoples retirement income, but a firefighter that retired at 45 and is now working for the state fire marshall sure as heck shouldn't be exempted. Perhaps we can only tax income over a set amount that wouldn't hit most retiree's and for the one's that it does hit; they won't be here unless we eliminate the death tax anyway.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014 Report this
connor
And the money to make up the loss of taxes will come from where???? NO!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 Report this
styles1959
I'm eligible to retire from the airline industry in July and I have been seriously thinking about relocating to Florida. Taxes in Rhode Island Way out of control. Besides people are coming to our state to be cared for by the taxpayers and the backs of us.
Our state needs to do something pretty drastic to make it enticing for the remainder of the population to want to remain living here.
We need our representatives to think out-of-the-box for a change and come up with something that will put the spark back in our little state
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 Report this
JohnStark
A good first step toward total elimination of the state income tax. At some point, citizens of RI need to ask a very fundamental question: What government services do I receive as a function of paying a state income tax, that citizens of New Hampshire Do Not receive as a function of paying No state income tax?
Thursday, February 20, 2014 Report this
Scal1024
This state will never eliminate the income tax. We couldn't even lower the sales tax (even though there was a plan out to do so by implementing a 1% sales tax on currently exempt items). People who say they are leaving this state due to tax policy aren't being honest. I'm sure there are MANY more reasons to move to Florida other than tax policy. Of course we should look at ways to LOWER the income tax, but if people tell you they can eliminate it they aren't being honest in this debate. If you lower the income tax you need a plan to get back the lost revenue, (aka something else is going up in price). Anytime someone has an idea for how to make up lost revenue it is attacked. Until people stop throwing politics into every single issue that comes up in this state, then we are forever going to be in trouble. We need to stop sending the same people back to the General Assembly and expecting something different to happen. We need to listen to candidates rather than voting for the guy that knows your neighbor. We need to wake up and change the direction in this state or else we lose the right to complain about where we are.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 Report this