high taxes in maine (Bangor, Washington: sales, real estate, how much)

[mattfran]

I keep hearing about high taxes in Maine. I am from central New York and I have a modest 1500 sq. ft. home on a 1/4 ac. My property and school taxes are $8400. per year. I am relocating 20 miles west of Bangor, and according to my real estate agent the property taxes are $975. Am I missing something. What other taxes are in Maine. Anything you can offer up would really help.

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by mattfran

I keep hearing about high taxes in Maine. I am from central New York and I have a modest 1500 sq. ft. home on a 1/4 ac. My property and school taxes are $8400. per year. I am relocating 20 miles west of Bangor, and according to my real estate agent the property taxes are $975. Am I missing something. What other taxes are in Maine. Anything you can offer up would really help.

I think the talk of "high taxes" in Maine is a relative thing. To those of us " from away", we raise an eyebrow at this as taxes are so much lower than any other place you will live.
Taxes of 975 sounds about right. Ours are 840 dollars a year.

Other taxes are the excise tax. This is the price you pay when you register your vehicle. Still it is much lower than other other "person property tax" you would pay at another state ( Virginia for example).
To register our van, a 2006 Chev express extended cargo van, it was ( for title, tags, registration, and excise tax) about 400 dollars. This year, for only the renewal, will be about 250 dollars.

Food is not taxed, but cigarrettes are- and relatively high compared to where we came from in Virginia. ( still cheaper than NY ). We went to E-cig's basically, and less restrictions where we can " smoke".

[mattfran]

Thank you for the input. How long have you lived in Maine, if you don't mind me asking.

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by mattfran

Thank you for the input. How long have you lived in Maine, if you don't mind me asking.

We have been here a bit over a year having moved here from Virginia.
The life style is wonderful in Maine. The differences in the cost of living is shocking how much easier it is here in Maine.

[FlowerPower00]

Taxes are high in Maine wen it comes to registering a car. I cam say in most cases what u pay for vehicle tax etc is well worth it, the lifestyle in Maine.trumps any downside.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Maine had the second highest tax rate per capita income in the nation. In the last five years we have dropped due to our new governor. We should be somewhere in the middle of the 50 states.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mattfran

I keep hearing about high taxes in Maine. I am from central New York and I have a modest 1500 sq. ft. home on a 1/4 ac. My property and school taxes are $8400. per year. I am relocating 20 miles west of Bangor, and according to my real estate agent the property taxes are $975. Am I missing something. What other taxes are in Maine. Anything you can offer up would really help.

We moved to Maine from Connecticut [We had previously owned homes in: California, Washington, Connecticut and Scotland]. Our experience was like yours. Our property taxes dropped a great deal by moving to Maine.

Our vehicle road taxes also dropped a great deal. Whether you call them road taxes, registration fees, property taxes or excise taxes, everyone taxes your vehicles. The taxes that we were paying for our vehicles dropped when we moved here.

I heard the myth about 'high' taxes in Maine discussed on the radio, when I first moved here. It appears that local politicians had repeated the myth for so many decades that it has became an accepted fact. Since it is now fact, you can not argue it.

There were a few threads on this topic, when I first began posting on City-Data. I rather exhausted myself trying to explain how $100 is less than $1,000. But locals are often set in their 'facts'.

Maine does have a high 'tax burden'. This is the total sum of all revenue from all sources, divided by residents. It is sometimes banded about in debates as if it were the average amount that Mainers pay. The problem is that much of Maine state revenue comes from corporations and businesses, not individuals. Maine is not very business friendly. Businesses pay a lot to operate in Maine, causing Maine revenue to be high, and the tax burden to be high, which is used in debates to imply that Mainers pay high taxes.



For retirees Maine is ideal. Many pensioners thrive in Maine on their small incomes.

When you file your Income Taxes, the first thing you do is you subtract the 'Standard Deduction' and your 'Personal Exemption'. Only if your taxable income exceeds these two do you actually go any further and possibly pay income taxes. The Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption here exceeds the pensions of most retirees. Which is why so many of us do not pay Income Taxes.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by JohnyLaw

... The current gov is a tea party hack that meets with Maine white supremists called the Aroostock Watchmen, is under investigation for corruption, influence peddling and does his best to ensure nothing can be passed via rather bizarre tantrums.

There was a smear campaign linking him to Watchmen, but it turned out that LePage has been far more active with the NAACP then with the watchmen.

There has been one investigation looking into LePage refusing to give his discretionary funds to hire Mark Eves.

I have not heard of any investigation for corruption, or for influence peddling.

[LarryLogger]

Originally Posted by maineborzoi

I think the talk of "high taxes" in Maine is a relative thing. To those of us " from away", we raise an eyebrow at this as taxes are so much lower than any other place you will live.
Taxes of 975 sounds about right. Ours are 840 dollars a year.

I currently live in SC. Property Tax on a $300K house is $2500 per year (repeat $2500). No sales tax on food, otherwise 6%. Property tax (same Maine's excise tax) on a 2009 Dodge pickup this year is $750. Income tax is about mid-range of states that have it. I don't think you can say "taxes are so much lower than any other place" - property tax in Maine is significantly higher than I pay now.

That being said, my timeline is about 3 years until I can permanently turnoff the home air conditioning and return to Maine, after 30+ years of exile

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Maine taxes are high, but not high, on a range of 1-10 with 10 being super high, i would place maine at a 6 or maybe a 7. Ma would be higher up near a 8 or 9.