Taxes (Portland, Hope: sales, real estate, how much)

[DavidoftheNorth]

Are taxes HIGH or LOW (or in between) in Maine? I get conflicting opinions.

[irishmom]

If you go to the state of Maine goverment site...the state income tax rate is 8.5% which is high (here in Maryland it's 4.5%). The real estate taxes overall for the state are high, but in actuallity they are less in remote rural locations and very high in the Portland and southern state areas (for the same house I have here with the same amount of land the taxes in Maine are around $4000 a year and here I pay $2500 a year). Then there are other taxes such as personal property taxes on cars (I'm not sure what this is actually called) and sales tax which is about average for the county (except evidently you are supposed to add up all the stuff you buy out of state and pay sales tax on it...I wonder if people really do that...how would the state know if you didn't?). Overall on average the rate of tax as a percentage of income is the highest in the country. Which may well be worth it if it's where you want to live.

[DavidoftheNorth]

I think that's what leads to the confusion; Maine's tax RATE is high, but if the base amount (income) is low, which it is in Maine, relative to many other states, I think, then the tax TOTAL is lower than if the base amount (income) had been higher. I'm making this sound more complicated than it is. So I guess Maine is both HIGH/LOW, that is HIGH RATE, LOW TAX paid, relative to some other states.

I think the danger is, with what appears to be a stagnating or declining economy, how much higher can the RATE go, as Maine has to derive more tax money from less base amount (income, etc.)? 100% of 0 = 0.

[irishmom]

Well I guess if you add up all the taxes and fees you pay (and I have not looked into local income taxes just state) and compare it to all the taxes and fees you pay for the same quaility of life in another area (meaning same size house, land, schools, activities, vehicles...etc) then you could make a better assesment as to if individually your tax burden would go up or down. But based on percentage of income Mainers would net less pay based on the taxes. i.e.- a person making $100K where I live now would pay $4500 in state income tax and a person making the same in Maine would pay $8500. So unless you have the ability to move to an area that does have other fees and taxes lowered you are already starting out with less. Make sense?

[forest beekeeper]

It is the 'tax burden' that is oft lauded as being high.

Maine's income taxes are not the highest, nor the lowest. They could be 9.9% and still other states could match it.

Property taxes are hard to rate, as property taxes are a combination of both mil-rate and assessed values.

The idea of 'tax burden' is the combine all taxes, including fees, and re-indexing it by the average household income. That is where it 'hits' Mainers.

Maine's average household income is low.

So even though Mainers pay less taxes, on average their incomes are also lower, so those taxes would 'appear' higher becuase of the lower incomes.

It is a way of making 5.5% income tax [one of the middle brackets] appear as if it were 10%.

Also since most states charge a vehicle tax as 'proptery tax', and Maine calls it 'excise tax', some Mainers insist that only Maine charges a excise tax on vehicles.

Maine does not pay higher taxes.

[GardnerIL]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...es.aspx?page=1

I'm new to this site but this is one web site I'm using to figure out where to move. Hope it helps.

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by GardnerIL

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...es.aspx?page=1

I'm new to this site but this is one web site I'm using to figure out where to move. Hope it helps.

Thank you - good reference.

[irishmom]

That's a great site!

But I have one question:

Does anyone actually WANT to move to Alabama where they have the lowest tax burden?...LOL

[DavidoftheNorth]

Now, now, now IM. Of course we don't but it's rude to talk about it. We don't want to embarrass Alabama!

[irishmom]

Originally Posted by DavidoftheNorth

Now, now, now IM. Of course we don't but it's rude to talk about it. We don't want to embarrass Alabama!

Oh sorry, I should always count to ten before I type.