Maine doesn't look so bad.... (sales, income, property tax)

[sfw1979]

I got this from the AZ board and posted it on the MN board. I was surprised at how well Maine ranked. We moved here last Feb and are military so we will only be here a few years but I often hear Maine is a poor state with low economic growth etc..
I know there are several factors that go into something like this..at any rate

http://www.alec.org/2/rich-states-poor-states-alec-laffer-state-economic-competitiveness-index.html (broken link)

[sfw1979]

Can someone expalin it to me? Does it mean Maine is ranked 18 or 44? I guess I thought it was 18...I'm a little confused?

[flycessna]

I think...or at least I inferred that basically it is saying that conservative low taxed states are prospering while liberal high taxed states are not. I liked how it called the northeast an economic black hole and that basically the Blue State ridden Northeast which now runs from DC to down east Maine (excluding Delaware and New Hampshire) are high taxed and are growing at a slower rate or not growing at all compared to the south and south west. It then gave scenarios of how tax cutting measures can improve the overall economy. I saw many different ranks but according to the title "rich state poor state" I will assume Maine ranked 44 with 1 being the richest.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Property Tax Burden: (per $1,000 of personal income) $54.63 Rank: 49th

Our personal property tax burden per capita income is exceeded by only one state. I didn't go through the other 49 states to see which one it was. However, with the sales and income taxes on top of the property taxes we are definitely #1 in total tax burden per capita income.

[dmyankee]

I think it could be Vermont that surpassed us. They are having the same demographic and employments woes as us, but without the extra infrastructure problems (sheer size of the state we have here.)