No city income tax in Emmet County

Good news for anyone moving to the Petoskey area. Neither of Emmet County’s cities — Petoskey or Harbor Springs — charges a local income tax. Most Michigan cities don’t. Only about two dozen do. They’re mostly bigger or more industrial places like Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing. Up here, local government runs on property taxes instead of a paycheck tax.

So wherever you land, you’ll file your federal and Michigan income taxes. But you won’t owe a separate city income tax. That holds in one of the two cities, in the villages of Alanson, Pellston, or Mackinaw City, or in any of the townships. When you’re weighing the cost of living against a place that does have one, that’s a genuine difference. For most households, though, property tax rates and home prices matter a lot more.