Why do you all think your taxes are so high? (mortgage, real estate)

[shadowfax1997]

Originally Posted by corgis

I just don't get it - why do people come in here and post that Maine's taxes are the highest in the nation, when they're not - my advice, don't post stuff like that unless you really know your facts.

The cost of living is higher in maine - try doing a search for cost of living and comparing maine to other states.

here is one for maine to west virginia.
Cost of Living - Cost of Living Calculator from CNNMoney

I have compared calculators from several different web sites and the numbers are the same. I don't know how accurate these calculators are, but the numbers speak for themselves.

scott

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997

The cost of living is higher in maine - try doing a search for cost of living and comparing maine to other states. ...

General statements will always have exceptions.

To use a broad brush to paint the entire state of Maine, will obviously be very deceiving.

It has been our personal observation in moving to Maine that our living expenses have dropped significantly.

For us living in Maine is much cheaper.

Our cost of living in Maine is lower.

Comparing Maine's cost-of-living directly to Connecticut, or to California, or to Washington, or to Virginia; Maine has proven to have a much lower cost-of-living [for us].

Our taxes are much lower while living in Maine.

Our housing prices and our property taxes are so much lower that they easily over-come the slight rise in food prices.

[Brianandkim]

Forest your killing me here buddy.
Perhaps if your retired and want to live in rural Maine and heat your home with wood and dont have a desire to live within shouting distance of anything remotely resembling culture life is cheaper than in other states you have lived in.
But I live in Gorham just outside of Portland and I can tell you that you and I live in different worlds.
My modest home is valued at about $180000 and I pay $3800 a year in taxes.
My wife drives an 04 Volvo. The first year she registered it it cost close to $ $1200 just in excise tax plus the 5% sales tax. Does your old Saab cause any less wear and tear on the roads? Health insurance through my employer cost $103 per week out of pocket and thats with a $1000 deductible. To insure my wifes car and my motorcycle cost over $1000 a year and I am 50 with a clean record my wife is 38 and has never even had so much as a parking ticket. I could go on and on but the point is that Maine is a very expensive state to live in unless you can and want to live slightly north of nowhere .

[Canada_Dave]

From an outsider looking in, you guys live in a tax Heaven. All the figures quoted look very nice on paper ( and probably the reason I buy all my gas/groceries in maine, come to think of it :P ) Perspective is a lot, and from mine you guys are lucky in a lot of ways.

[dmyankee]

Hey Dave...

Your Loonies are worth a lot more now. Keep 'em coming! LOL.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by Canada_Dave

From an outsider looking in, you guys live in a tax Heaven. All the figures quoted look very nice on paper ( and probably the reason I buy all my gas/groceries in maine, come to think of it :P ) Perspective is a lot, and from mine you guys are lucky in a lot of ways.

No offense, I love canada, But thats the last place I want to be compared to.

One of the reason why Maine leads our nation in Tax burden is because our leaders want so much to be like Canada and Europe. The libral Mantra is that we are the only industrialized nation that doesn't have "free" healthcare.

I've seen some of the taxes you pay....I get to go visit Qubec and Montreal...nothing is FREE....but like every socialized nation......or state government......it will be burdened on the backs of the hardest working.

[Canada_Dave]

Originally Posted by flycessna

No offense, I love canada, But thats the last place I want to be compared to.

One of the reason why Maine leads our nation in Tax burden is because our leaders want so much to be like Canada and Europe. The libral Mantra is that we are the only industrialized nation that doesn't have "free" healthcare.

I've seen some of the taxes you pay....I get to go visit Qubec and Montreal...nothing is FREE....but like every socialized nation......or state government......it will be burdened on the backs of the hardest working.

Our healthcare is far from free. I can show you 40% of my income going towards goverment coffers, plus the 13% sales tax on everything I buy, and gas taxes that magicly add almost 70 cents more a gallon to our gas. O and on top of that I pay about about 60 bucks a month for supplemenatal health insurance (dental, eye, etc)

I am just saying... from where I sit I see a lot I like in the tax policies... and some I do not like- take the good with the bad I guess. And very much agreed.. the middle class always get slammed in every tax scheme/system I have ever seen.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Brianandkim

Forest your killing me here buddy.

Your welcome.

... Perhaps if your retired and want to live in rural Maine and heat your home with wood and dont have a desire to live within shouting distance of anything remotely resembling culture life is cheaper than in other states you have lived in.

uh, I am.

I do.

I have lived in a few other places: California, Virginia, Connecticut, Scotland, South Carolina, Washington, Italy.

And Maine is much cheaper

... But I live in Gorham just outside of Portland and I can tell you that you and I live in different worlds.

You said 'Portland'.

You could have replaced that one word with any urban city, and continued with the same statement [with the exception of the actual prices would still be twice higher in any city outside of Maine].

... My modest home is valued at about $180000 and I pay $3800 a year in taxes. My wife drives an 04 Volvo. The first year she registered it it cost close to $ $1200 just in excise tax plus the 5% sales tax. Does your old Saab cause any less wear and tear on the roads? Health insurance through my employer cost $103 per week out of pocket and thats with a $1000 deductible. To insure my wifes car and my motorcycle cost over $1000 a year and I am 50 with a clean record my wife is 38 and has never even had so much as a parking ticket. I could go on and on but the point is that Maine is a very expensive state to live in unless you can and want to live slightly north of nowhere .

The majority of Maine is rural.

Rural and cheap.

You sir, are within a very cheap state, and yet you live in the most expensive area that you could find in that state.

I certainly do not deny that Maine does have an urban area, and that obviously just like everywhere else on the planet, urban means expensive.

However try comparing Portland to San Fransisco, or Boston, the other Portland, or Seattle, ....

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Canada_Dave

From an outsider looking in, you guys live in a tax Heaven. All the figures quoted look very nice on paper ( and probably the reason I buy all my gas/groceries in maine, come to think of it :P ) Perspective is a lot, and from mine you guys are lucky in a lot of ways.

I agree.

Locals always assume that their life is the worst, until they get the chance to truly compare.

[nullgeo]

here is a 50-state comparison chart of tax burden % ... you'll discern that it is a multiple calculation formula ... it does show Maine as being second only to Vermont (by 1/10 of 1%, heh) for high tax burden. You can also see that the most typical rate is about 11%. A difference of 3% is significant, but not outrageously skewed from the norms.

If it would be interesting to study how N.H. manages without income or sales tax (with a total tax burden of only 8% to boot), consider this: there is an island between New Zealand and Australia by the name of Norfolk Island. Several thousand full time residents are mostly descendants of the mutineers from the HMS Bounty made famous in the book and movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" ... these resident citizens descended from mutineer families that originally took refuge on Pitcairn Island ... in later years they were offered a move to Norfolk which is closer to Australia and a much more liveable place than Pitcairn. Anyway, Norfolk is about a 20 square mile island in the middle of thousands of miles of Pacific, but has probably the world's most equitable climate year round anywhere (65* - 75* day temps all year) ... Lush, rich soil, bountiful sea, pretty forest, a couple great beaches ... a miniature garden of Eden. They have a modern society and complete infrastructure. Their homes are up to date in every respect. They have duty-free products from all around the world. They have NO TAXES OF ANY KIND ... not income, not sales, not property, even ... here's the kicker: THEY DO NOT TAKE ONE SINGLE PENNY OF FOREIGN AID, either.

How do they do it? They are frugal with infrastructure for one thing ... but, what they need to finance their society is ENTIRELY EARNED FROM TOURISTS, fees and taxes on services, etc. Tourists fly over from N.Z. and Australia to soak up the ambiance — and pay through the nose for the privilege. But Norfolk Island also makes it worth the tourists' while by offering the duty-free shopping for products that cost more in N.Z. and Australia.

Now, two birds with one stone? Maine, near over-run with tourists (9 million visits per year), could take a lesson from Hawaii, let alone Norfolk. I have lived and spent lotsa time in the Aloha State (which really SUCKS as a place to live, by the way) and man! do they know how to strip a tourist's wallet! You Mainers want to keep the development down, the tourism from over-running your highways and infrastructure in summer? Focus your legislators on hitting Everyone who is not a full-time resident, tourists and absent property owners alike, and you are in a position to shift Maine's place some in the tax-burden column.

E.G. your sales tax is 5% ... but lots of places sales taxes are Way higher ... ask you Canada Dave about the GST rate there — yet tourism in Canada is healthy. Washington State sales tax here is 8.2% - 8.7%. California 7.25%. Tourism is rampant in Washington and California. People don't stay away because of the sales tax. A Maine Driver's license can qualify a consumer for a lower rate, say 3% or 4% ... no Maine DL, charge 8+% like Washington ... hell, charge 10%. Throw on more other visitor upcharges. It won't scare anyone from coming to Acadia and shopping at the Ellsworth WalMart.

My island ferry tickets are commuter rate ... the summer people and tourists pay Much higher cash rates ... doesn't stop the visitors from infiltrating like rats on the wharf all summer.

And, Bonus, just think of all the nasty impressions the tourists will take back of the cost of living in Maine ... it won't stop them from coming back next summer but it will color their dream of "maybe we should move to Maine! It's sooooo lovely!" They can know there's a difference between the taxes they pay and residents pay but it will still register as an expensive place to live. "High taxes AND all those Nasty Bugs! We can't live in Maine!"

Stop Maine's reliance on foreign aid (Federal gov't. is foreign, ain't it ?) Rob the tourists!