State residency determines where one pays state income taxes, and Swift’s near nine-figure real estate holdings across the globe are quite revealing. Swift owns two properties in Tennessee. She also owns three properties on one block in New York City, valued at $50 million, and pays $40,000 per month to rent a fourth, as well as one in Los Angeles, one in Rhode Island, and one in London. She was even chosen by New York City’s official marketing and tourism organization as its “global welcome ambassador” from 2014-2015 to coincide with her 1989 song, “Welcome to New York.”
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But did Swift really move to New York — lock, stock, and barrel — at any point? If so, why is Swift voting in Tennessee in 2018? And why was she summoned for jury duty in Tennessee in August 2016? It’s unclear where she voted in 2016, though she did vote, but if she was called for jury duty in the Volunteer State just a few months prior, a likely assumption for voting would be the same state, not the Empire State.
One typically votes and is called for jury duty where one claims residency (unless one wants to break the law, which I am not suggesting Swift did in the slightest).
What do New York, California, and Rhode Island have in common? Aside from being blue states, they all have very high state income taxes, especially for the highest brackets. What does Tennessee have? No state income tax, except a shrinking 3 percent interest and dividend income tax (phasing out in 2021) — which I’m guessing does affect Swift, but not to the extent New York’s 8.82 percent, California’s 13.3 percent, or Rhode Island’s 5.99 percent income tax would. The only reason the overall tax burden isn’t very high in Tennessee is because it is a red state.
Taylor Swift Should Put Her Tax Money Where Her Mouth Is
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But did Swift really move to New York — lock, stock, and barrel — at any point? If so, why is Swift voting in Tennessee in 2018? And why was she summoned for jury duty in Tennessee in August 2016? It’s unclear where she voted in 2016, though she did vote, but if she was called for jury duty in the Volunteer State just a few months prior, a likely assumption for voting would be the same state, not the Empire State.
One typically votes and is called for jury duty where one claims residency (unless one wants to break the law, which I am not suggesting Swift did in the slightest).
What do New York, California, and Rhode Island have in common? Aside from being blue states, they all have very high state income taxes, especially for the highest brackets. What does Tennessee have? No state income tax, except a shrinking 3 percent interest and dividend income tax (phasing out in 2021) — which I’m guessing does affect Swift, but not to the extent New York’s 8.82 percent, California’s 13.3 percent, or Rhode Island’s 5.99 percent income tax would. The only reason the overall tax burden isn’t very high in Tennessee is because it is a red state.
Taylor Swift Should Put Her Tax Money Where Her Mouth Is