Retirees: Maine One of Ten Tax Unfriendly States

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Jellybean50

OK ... pretend i'm slow ...

If i get Social Security (not taxed in Maine) and a small pension (is that taxed?) and i'm not going to buy a house there - or work, what are they going to tax me so much on? Why is it so bad for me to retire there - because of the sales tax?

I'm in Jersey ... Maine looks like paradise to me

SS is not taxed in Maine.

If you have an average small pension, then your AGI will likely not exceed the Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption. Which means that it will not owe taxes on it either.

In our case my Dw was working p/t and still our combined income was not high enough to exceed the Married-Joint Standard Deduction and Exemptions, plus reach up into the lowest tax bracket.

Retirees with an average pension can hold a p/t job on the side, and still not pay income taxes in Maine. Everyone's tax picture is different, your results may vary.



You still must pay property taxes. In our experience, our property taxes in Maine have been lower than any of the properties we have owned previously.



Maine also charges an 'excise' tax on vehicles. Maine appears to be the only state that labels their vehicle tax with the word: "Excise". So Maine's excise taxes are the highest in the nation. Other states do not have an 'excise' tax; they have 'vehicle property taxes', or 'road taxes', or 'vehicle taxes'. It has been our experience that Maine's 'excise tax' [while being the highest excise tax] is far less than what any of our previous states charged for vehicle taxes. Of course your results may vary.



Which leaves gasoline taxes, sales tax, hunting and fishing licenses, ...



Good luck now

[Jellybean50]

Thank You.

Your explanation really does help