retirement and taxes

[Bullwinkle]

http://content.kiplinger.com/tools/retir...=14#anchor

a good read on state taxes and retirement ... Hawaii is in the top ten

[Bob Orts]

This may change since the legality of exempting pensions from non-Hawaii government pensions while taxing similar pensions from private pensions may violate the equal protection clause of Hawaii's Constitution.

Specifically if two pension plans are established under exact same rules and contribution levels and one is government and one private, why are the government pension exempt and the private pension not exempt? Is a state or local government worker entitled to favorite treatment by another state while not providing equal treatment to another state's private sector employees?

[Kelena]

All they have to do is show there is a rational basis for the distinction under the equal protection clause. One reason might be that, in the past at least, government workers made less than those in the private sector and so need a break on taxes. Admittedly, that rationale may not hold as well these days, now that all pensions are under attack by radicals who want either no pensions, or want all pensions to be gambled away in the stock market.

[Obie]

Private pensions are exempted as long as the employee made no contributions.

Although they are becoming scarce, defined
contribution, or defined benefit plans are exempted.

I retired from a major airline and pay no tax on my retirement income.