Retired now in Brooklyn. Taxed on my pension and some healthcare news.
It has been a week since we closed on the sale of our Chicago home and hit the road, heading for our new home in Brooklyn.
Our furniture and most of our belongs are either waiting for a moving van or on the road. We haven’t heard.
But our new apartment is nearly ready for us. Meanwhile we are camping out at our relatives.
It will take a while to figure out our new city and state.
One thing I knew before moving here is that while Illinois does not tax anybody’s retirement income, New York state will be taxing my pension.
So the move to Brooklyn will cost us an additional 4% a year in income tax
The sorry truth is that Illinois got us in other ways. Illinois does not have a progressive income tax system. New York does.
A progressive income tax works on the principle that if you are rich you should pay more in taxes.
Illinois does not work on that principle. An Illinois billionaire pays the same rate of tax as a McDonald’s employee.
As a result everything else is taxed at a higher rate.
Another difference for retired teachers is that in Illinois public retired school teachers in the Teacher Retirement System have access to retiree healthcare through a partly subsidized Medicare Advantage program.
The subsidy is not applied to retiree healthcare costs if we choose to go with Original Medicare.
Here in New York, retired public school teachers are fighting with their own union leadership over attempts to move them into a system much worse than they have now.
My Bronx retired teacher buddy Jonathon Halabi has been writing about the issue lately.
It’s a local fight with national implications for union democracy and senior healthcare.
For three years Mulgrew and Unity and the Municipal Labor Committee and Mayor Adams and the New York City Office of Labor Relations, and the insurance companies, and the City’s financiers have been trying to force retirees out of Medicare (Senior Care) and into Medicare Advantage. There’s a big pile money they can make by this change – which some people (including me) argue would be a reduction of benefits.
While I can and will continue with my Illinois retired teacher benefit, I will be following the fight of New York public workers (it’s not just about teachers) very closely.
So should you.