One of the many reasons why I'm heading to Maine. (renting, car insurance) - (ME) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

retiredtinbender · 10-31-2010, 10:35 AM

[quote=forest beekeeper;16469014]Okay.

So the complaint about taxes is not so much that taxes are high; but that the economy is low, so you feel that taxes are harder to pay.

Which does make sense.

I do feel badly for folks who are struggling.

Living in Ct my entire pension was not enough to cover our property and vehicle taxes; let alone living expenses.

Whereas by moving to Maine our tax burden dropped from 150% of my pension income, to less than one month's pension say 10% of my pension income.t that most wouldn't want to

There are people today who are struggling everywhere.

This is how states and towns work everywhere in the nation.[quote]

No. I have a feeling, reading your post over the last few years, that you left an urban life and traded (except an apartment bldg if I remember) it all in for living in an unorganized territory, bulding your own home of sorts (steel building) heated in other than normal fashion, and live as most others wouldn't. Trying not to put too fine a point on it here. The UT does not pay for services other than what the state gives. Yes there are taxess therre but not such as living in a municipality and living in a "standard" hoome. You cannot compare the two and say that Maine as a whole has lower taxes than anywhere else you have lived and owned. Apples and oranges. Sorry bit you live quite a bit differently than the majority of people I know and most that post on here would want to live. Fits for you but not many others.

We pay quite a bit more per capita, I would say, than many other states. My opinion, I know. Your results may vary.

ClownShoes · 10-31-2010, 11:57 AM

Hmmm, property taxes due tomorrow for the last quarter.

There goes another $1500.xx bucks.

Newdaawn · 10-31-2010, 12:42 PM

wow $1500 is just for 1/4 of the year? If you were paying $6000 here in Maine it would be for a house worth around $500K or more. Depends on the town you are in. Each town here sets it's own real estate tax. Ours run about $1800 but we have a fairly modest dwelling with one bath and 3 bedrooms.

ClownShoes · 10-31-2010, 12:46 PM

Consider yourself lucky.
I'm in the City that's why it's so cheap.
Many people in the burbs are about $1000.xx a month.

Submariner · 10-31-2010, 01:00 PM

We have owned properties assessed in the $125k - $ 150k neighborhood, in cities in Ct, Wa, and Ca. It is common for such properties to be taxed $5,000 to $8,000.

The apartment building that we owned in Ct was assessed at $130k, it's property taxes were over $5k.

If your paying over $5k for property taxes in Maine, you likely have a really nice peice of property

Assessed value is assessed value, it is not apples to oranges. It is comparing like to like.

NJ2ME · 10-31-2010, 01:51 PM

We also moved from New Jersey to Maine. We live rural and granted, we don't have trash pickup... but its so easy to run our trash a block away whatever 4 days a week we choose to. We pay 750 a year for a few acres.

Now in NJ... We had a 2 bedroom townhouse in an overcrowded development smack to smack houses. I could hear my neighbors talking. We had a backyard that was so small, the dog could just go out to go potty, and no front grass at all (just a sidewalk). And we paid almost 5 grand a year in taxes! We had NOTHING extra except curb side trash pickup. My parents still live in NJ and pay over 10grand in property taxes a year.

We have older cars (2000 me and my husband both), and here we paid only about 20.00 more each for registration/excise tax to get our cars on the road.

Car insurance - In NJ, we paid over 1400.00 for the both of us for the LOWEST possible coverage... here in Maine we are paying 735.00 and got BETTER coverage for both os us.

Also, food shopping has been lower here. And we are actually doing better on utilities because it was so hot in NJ from April to October (was 80 there last week still) that we had the AC running constant because we can't stand the heat.

So, maybe some other states could compare to Maine cost of living wise... but if your coming from NJ, I feel that there is NO comparison, jobs or not. Since moving here, my husband has picked up 2 jobs (special fields but not college degree) but maybe considered the "lower payscale" and actually I'm having a harder time with a college degree in the medical field (not a nurse), but I am being called to sub teach from 3 different districts. But with the cost of living here from our experience, the lower payscale is doing ok for us to live.

I think I'll stay here happily.

dmyankee · 10-31-2010, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

R.I. is pretty bad too.

BINGO!

Where I grew up there, everyone was 'connected.'

bwap_bonk · 10-31-2010, 08:28 PM

yeah, jersey may be totally corrupt, polluted, crowded, expensive, left turns are illegal and you have to drive 13 miles past the road you want to get to a jug handle and wait at a light 10 minutes to drive the 13 miles back, but the people, the people there just make it WORSE.
half of my family lives scattered about north jersey, it is pure misery. any and all who can escape, should!!

retiredtinbender · 11-01-2010, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

We have owned properties assessed in the $125k - $ 150k neighborhood, in cities in Ct, Wa, and Ca. It is common for such properties to be taxed $5,000 to $8,000.

The apartment building that we owned in Ct was assessed at $130k, it's property taxes were over $5k.

If your paying over $5k for property taxes in Maine, you likely have a really nice peice of property

Assessed value is assessed value, it is not apples to oranges. It is comparing like to like.

Yes, assessed value is assessed value. But no,it's not the whole of it. That is only part of it. Just using that is like a political ad, only showing a glimmer of the point. Look at the town budget, the type of property and finally the mil rate. It costs a lot for a town to run (sand, salt, fuel, employees) but the UT doesn't have those problems. So yeah, it is less tax to live in a steel building in a suspect, shall we say, albeit riverine area in the UT. But most folks won't live there in that fashion. They want amenities and a social climate above the UT. All I'm saying.

Submariner · 11-01-2010, 06:59 AM

I understand 'why' taxes are higher in some areas than others.

It is a fact that some areas have higher taxes than others.

A $100k property in one area will be taxed $5k; and a $100k property in another area will be taxed $1k.

The area that taxes all $100k properties at $5k is higher taxed, than the area that taxes $100k properties $1k. It is not that complicated.

The biggest 'city' in Maine is still fairly small; in many other states would not be considered a top 'city' at all. Less population density, with less municipal services and less social services will keep the mil rates lower. The overwhelming majority of Maine towns [OTs and UTs] have lower mil rates. Trying to claim that lower mil rates and lower taxes are actually 'higher' than areas with higher taxes, is kind of silly.