LuxuryTax

New York Decides Against Luxury Tax Proposal

Filed under: Wealth

It's looking like New York will follow fast on the heels of Illinois in deciding not to add a luxury tax for jewelry over $20,000. The American Watch Association sent an e-mail to members on Monday saying that while the New York State Legislature has agreed to tax increases to deal with a budget deficit, the luxury tax proposal is not part of it. The luxury tax would have also applied to aircraft costing more than $500,000, yachts over $200,000, cars that cost more than $60,000 and furs over $20,000.

But don't go spending yet, high earners in New York will be feeling an increased pinch. Income taxes were raised one percentage point to 7.85 percent for couples with income over $300,000 and couples with more than $500,000 in income will pay 8.97 percent. The three-year tax increase is expected to add $4 billion to the state coffers this year.

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Tags: income tax, IncomeTax, luxury tax, LuxuryTax, spending

Illinois Says No To Luxury Tax

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

If you are in Illinois go ahead and splurge on that piece of bling. Jewelers of America has announced in a press release that the Illinois State Legislature's Revenue and Finance Committee has opted not to move forward with HB 451, a bill that would have slapped a five percent luxury tax on watch and jewelry purchases over $20,000. Jewelers of America had created an anti-luxury-tax letter and fundraising campaign to stop the bill fearing the impact the luxury tax could have on the industry. Now Jewelers of America is setting their sights on New York which also has a similar luxury tax proposal that calls for a percent tax on jewelry and watches over $20,000.

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Tags: illinois, luxury, luxury tax, LuxuryTax, tax

Controversial 'Luxury Taxes' Passed in Sardinia

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

In what seems to be a strange turn of events in today's tourism-driven world, the island of Sardinia is making an attempt to preserve it's natural beauty (and make a little money) by limiting tourism. The President of Sardinia, Renato Soru, has been fighting for a long time to put "luxury taxes" into effect, and he's finally won. Aimed mostly at the super rich (after all, Sardinia has been nicknamed "the playground of the rich"), the steep set of taxes will affect mostly items like second homes, private yachts, aircraft, and hotel rooms. Opposition of the new taxes are afraid it will drive too much tourism and development out of Sardinia, not to mention possibly give the country a negative image.

As much as I hate taxes, I always have to support efforts to preserve natural beauty and prevent too much tourism -- even if they do make money doing it.

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Tags: luxury, luxury tax, luxury taxes, LuxuryTax, LuxuryTaxes, sardinia, tax, taxes, tourism