In WA where there is no income tax..??

Question

Hi, I've just moved to Seattle,WA and recently got a job offer. As I am also new to the US, I would appreciate a clear explanation. Alright, I understand that there is no income tax here in Washington State. Does that mean I will be receiving a full amount of my salary? Or, is there going to be any deduction? If so, what is it for? How much in percentage or what's the approximate amount of money will be deducted, monthly? Let's say if I make $2,000 a month?

Thank you!

Thank you for

Answer 1

you should plan on having about 30% of your pay deducted for Federal income taxes, social security taxes, and Labor and Industries taxes.

These will all occur even though there is no state income tax in Washington. the 30% number might be a little bit high, but that way you don't end up getting less than you had planned.

Washington state does not collect an income tax on your earnings, but there is still a federal tax. The washington state government is funded primarily by a sales tax. You'll notice that anytime you purchase anything, there will be a sales tax of about 9% on top of the purchase price. So if you buy something that is listed for $100, you should expect to pay $109. The $9 extra is the 9% sales tax which is paid instead of a state income tax.  

Answer 2

Hi and welcome to Seattle.  Now, as for income taxes...  We have no state income tax, so what you are paying in terms of income tax is just the federal income tax.  We do have a "hefty" sales tax that taxes us, though!  (Probably didn't need the exclamation point as I'm not really excited about "hefty" taxes, but we gotta pay somewhere, right?)  There's also common deductions like for Social Security and other standard deductions that you would have coming out of your check.  It's just the state income tax that we don't have, but there are other states that don't have that as well...