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I've been investigating New Hampshire as a place to live, and the states of Maine and Vermont also ranked high on my list. Only trouble is, they have very high taxes. Maine recently ranked as the #1 most taxed state when considering state tax burden as a percentage of income... whereas New Hampshire ranked 49th as the second lowest-taxed state in the union.
This isn't something that happened overnight. Therefore, for those of you who are relatively recent transplants to Maine but live very close to the NH border, what made you choose to live in Maine rather than just over the NH border so you could take advantage of the low taxes?
I figure there has to be some reason why border towns on the ME side are not ghost towns, and why property on the ME side is not noticeably cheaper than property in NH. Tell me your thoughts.
New Hampshire's Property taxes are very high. Remember that any government has to get the income from somewhere. It doesn't drop as Manna from Heaven.
Also look to see if the government actually provides any services---services that you might need. And look to see what the local tax burden where you want to live is. Look to see what the cost is for specialized taxes that the rankings never see such as registering your car. Check to see what property prices are and what rental prices are.
Then look to see how expensive things are to buy, like food, clothing, essentials.
These rankings can be very deceptive.
You can move to Mississippi where the cost of living is very low, but you might not like Mississippi, since there are reasons why its low. For one, they spend nothing on education, and their education system is....well... not great.
We are moving to Maine next month. We heavily researched New Hampshire and found that for our financial situation it was likely to be much more expensive. Property tax is huge in NH...... You really need to do the research and draw your own conclusions. New Hampshire is a great state but the lack of state income tax didn't help us much (we have lot's of little deductions running around here and Maine lets us deduct them!) and no sales tax wasn't much help because we don't spend that much money. There are websites that help you crunch the numbers and see what will work best for you. Living in Maine made better financial sense for us....................
'Tax burden' looks at all taxes from all sources [including the biggest source of taxes, corporations], then divides it by population. 'Tax burden' is then unethically used to argue that taxes on all individuals is high.
I moved to Maine in 2005, so I am not a recent new-comer; and I do not live near NH. So I do not fit your qualifications.
We moved here from Ct. Our taxes dropped a great deal when we moved here.
If you plan to move to Maine and operate a corporation then you may want to reconsider.
Only the tiniest businesses can avoid the huge cost of operation in Maine. Sole proprietorship operations like selling veggies from a table in your front yard, or window-washing, a one man barber shop, tanning salon, or a welder. Any business that does not require employees. Can stand a chance.
As soon as you hire employees, it starts. To operate with 4 or 5 employees the pressure starts to be incorporated, and then you fight with scores of over-lapping government bureaucracies, who will burden you quickly. If you skip any of them, they fine you.
We are moving to Maine next month. We heavily researched New Hampshire and found that for our financial situation it was likely to be much more expensive. Property tax is huge in NH...... You really need to do the research and draw your own conclusions. New Hampshire is a great state but the lack of state income tax didn't help us much (we have lot's of little deductions running around here and Maine lets us deduct them!) and no sales tax wasn't much help because we don't spend that much money. There are websites that help you crunch the numbers and see what will work best for you. Living in Maine made better financial sense for us....................
Good luck!
Very interesting post. See, this is what I want to hear about. My wife and I are self-employed... we get TONS of deductions. Our plan is to go on the road and be traveling musicians, so we will probably be able to deduct every last penny of income we make because it's not likely to be a lot of money (unless by some miracle we "hit it big"... something I'm not banking on). Our reason for buying a home would be to have it for a "home base" and most importantly for a scenario in which it was "every man for himself" after a total American economic collapse. (Yeah, I'm "one of those". I get needled for that occasionally, but given the direction in which America is going and has been going, and that good health and longevity run in my family, and that I'm only 32, and that I'm a safety freak, it seems quite likely that a complete implosion will happen before I depart this life.)
We also don't buy much taxable stuff... in Texas, groceries aren't taxed.
So maybe you (or anyone) could answer some questions for me:
1) Does the Maine state income tax go off of the federal taxable income or do they do their own computations? (Most states go off of the federal, but I know New York does its own computations.)
2) What are the websites you talked about, for doing these calculations?
Maine does not tax food unless it's "prepared" or snacks. Our income taxes are based on the federal taxes, but we have our own deductions for dependents.
Very interesting post. See, this is what I want to hear about. My wife and I are self-employed... we get TONS of deductions. Our plan is to go on the road and be traveling musicians, so we will probably be able to deduct every last penny of income we make because it's not likely to be a lot of money (unless by some miracle we "hit it big"... something I'm not banking on). Our reason for buying a home would be to have it for a "home base" and most importantly for a scenario in which it was "every man for himself" after a total American economic collapse. (Yeah, I'm "one of those". I get needled for that occasionally, but given the direction in which America is going and has been going, and that good health and longevity run in my family, and that I'm only 32, and that I'm a safety freak, it seems quite likely that a complete implosion will happen before I depart this life.)
We also don't buy much taxable stuff... in Texas, groceries aren't taxed.
So maybe you (or anyone) could answer some questions for me:
1) Does the Maine state income tax go off of the federal taxable income or do they do their own computations? (Most states go off of the federal, but I know New York does its own computations.)
2) What are the websites you talked about, for doing these calculations?
Sounds like you'd be better off in Maine, because in lean years you'll still have to pay NH high property taxes.
But you might want to check out Alaska. Ketchikan, Alaska, has milder Winters than Maine. And you don't have to worry about getting lyme disease in Alaska, so every time you go for a walk around your yard you don't have to wear a hazmat suit.
And Alaska has no income tax--in fact, Alaska actually pays you to live there.
Sounds like you'd be better off in Maine, because in lean years you'll still have to pay NH high property taxes.
But you might want to check out Alaska. Ketchikan, Alaska, has milder Winters than Maine. And you don't have to worry about getting lyme disease in Alaska, so every time you go for a walk around your yard you don't have to wear a hazmat suit.
And Alaska has no income tax--in fact, Alaska actually pays you to live there.
Interesting. Are you saying that Alaska doesn't suffer from mosquito infestations like the northeast does?
And what's the deal with getting money from the government? Is there a catch? (This isn't the first time I've heard that Alaska's residents get money from the government every year as their share of the oil revenue, but when something seems to be too good to be true, often it is.)
Also, isn't Ketchikan on an island?
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