CITY TAXES: Work in Ann Arbor/Live in Detroit?

[nerdtech]

Greetings, folks.

My wife and I are potentially looking to purchase a residence in Detroit proper.

But I have a tax question that I'd like to ask, and figured this would be a good place to do it...

Currently, we work in Ann Arbor. And would continue to do so.

I know that there are city taxes for Detroit.

If we lived in Detroit and bought a place to live, we would then pay city property tax like anywhere else.

But since we work in Ann Arbor, we would NOT have to pay the Detroit city employment tax.

Is this correct? Is there another tax that we WOULD have to pay?

Obviously I know you all probably are NOT accountants or tax people, but I figured there might be some people that are either in this situation, or know something about it...

I tried to call the city but was on hold for 45 minutes, long distance, and nobody ever answered...

Thanks in advance.

[detroitfan]

You're wrong there is an income tax for residents too 2.5%

[Ramcharger]

Bad news, as permanent residents of Detroit you would both be subject to Detroit

Detroit_Resident_Income_Tax_Instructions_2005.pdf

Detroit_Resident_Income_Tax_Instructions_2005.pdf

[hudkina]

People always complain about the "high" property taxes in Detroit, but the reality is that the housing is much cheaper in Detroit, so you end up paying a similar amount.

This 5-bedroom, 3,700 sq. ft. home in Detroit has annual taxes of $4,752.

This 5-bedroom, 3,500 sq. ft. home in Birmingham has annual taxes of $9,696.

Even accounting for the 2.5%, someone making $60,000 annually, would only pay $1,500 in city-income taxes. Altogether, someone would have to pay the city about $6,252 to live in that house, which is still over $3,000 cheaper than it is to live in the house in Birmingham.

Also, Detroit has a lot of areas where taxes are even lower. For instance, this house in the Hubbard-Richard neighborhood has annual taxes of just $417!