Sales Tax to Increase to 6.5%

[capecodcathy]

I was whining about this to friends from other states. They laughed at me. "ONLY 6.25%?"

Sales taxes in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by capecodcathy

I was whining about this to friends from other states. They laughed at me. "ONLY 6.25%?"

Sales taxes in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Before laughing one would have to look at the entire state tax picture. Florida has a 6% sales tax, but no income tax. Texas is 6.25% but no income tax. Capital gains taxes vary as do gasoline taxes.

[Xenos]

Are municipalities going to get any support, then? We are dying out here in the sticks. Either we do something like a 10% override on our local taxes or we are going to be teaching our kids in unheated buildings.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

Before laughing one would have to look at the entire state tax picture. Florida has a 6% sales tax, but no income tax. Texas is 6.25% but no income tax. Capital gains taxes vary as do gasoline taxes.

Exactly, while you're comparing, add MA excise tax, city/town property tax, fees, regulated car insurance, and a big lack of services for the money you do pay.

I pay 6% sales tax where I live (Atlanta suburb) but the state only gets 4%. The other 2% are local option sales taxes dedicated and earmarked to local county roads and schools.

We have top notch school infrastructure and technology, and our roads aren't lunar landscapes with crumbling and rusting bridges or brand new tunnels falling down and leaking. My county had more high schools in the Newsweek top US high school ranking than the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

When I lived in central Mass, the roads literally looked like a lunar landscape with the occassional frost heave for good measure, and the local high school had a leaky roof and the city was debating for two years how they were going to pay for a new roof. And all that was before 2008 and before the economic downturn and "budget crisis."

The problem in MA isn't that taxes are too low but that spending is too high, and the spending isn't efficient or targeted at things that government should be spending money on.

[Xenos]

Also, MA residents don't get much return for their Federal taxes. While Georgia gets $1.03 for each dollar that goes to the IRS, MA gets just $0.85. That figure is from 2005, so it includes all the money blown on the Big Dig.

Until the most reconstruction act kicks in next month I don't think there has been much federal money spent out in the bulk of the state for years.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Xenos

Also, MA residents don't get much return for their Federal taxes. While Georgia gets $1.03 for each dollar that goes to the IRS, MA gets just $0.85. That figure is from 2005, so it includes all the money blown on the Big Dig.

Those figures include military spending on the many Active Duty bases here in Georgia. That is misleading and incorrect. Mass has no more bases left. Westover, Hanscom, Otis, Devens are all essentially National Guard, Reserve, or civilian use. In any event, who says you're supposed to see a 1:1 ratio? If that was the case, then I want back in services the $50K in federal income taxes I paid for 2008. That's a ridiculous assertion.

Sales tax is a state tax, and we're discussing MA. There has always been a knee jerk reaction to raise taxes as the first choice, and the taxpayers of the Commonwealth get lousy services for their $$$. I remember calling the DPW in Lunenburg in 2007 and asking when Summer Street would be patched or repaved. It was literally a lunar landscape. The answer was it was not in the budget. Instead it was up to me to buy new tires and rims when my car hit a deep pothole in the rain or melting snow. Here I pay my local sales tax, but I get a direct local benefit and direct projects in my county tied to the money. It doesn't go to some "general fund" for the hacks on Beacon Hill to spend.

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Exactly, while you're comparing, add MA excise tax, city/town property tax, fees, regulated car insurance, and a big lack of services for the money you do pay.

I pay 6% sales tax where I live (Atlanta suburb) but the state only gets 4%. The other 2% are local option sales taxes dedicated and earmarked to local county roads and schools.

We have top notch school infrastructure and technology, and our roads aren't lunar landscapes with crumbling and rusting bridges or brand new tunnels falling down and leaking. My county had more high schools in the Newsweek top US high school ranking than the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

When I lived in central Mass, the roads literally looked like a lunar landscape with the occassional frost heave for good measure, and the local high school had a leaky roof and the city was debating for two years how they were going to pay for a new roof. And all that was before 2008 and before the economic downturn and "budget crisis."

The problem in MA isn't that taxes are too low but that spending is too high, and the spending isn't efficient or targeted at things that government should be spending money on.

Good points. As someone who also lives in Central MA we don't get much or any of our state money back. It goes to Boston and then gets spent and wasted there. We would be better off without a state government other than to do minimal things (like it was intended), and let the towns and cities have more control and less dependancy on the state.

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

Good points. As someone who also lives in Central MA we don't get much or any of our state money back. It goes to Boston and then gets spent and wasted there. We would be better off without a state government other than to do minimal things (like it was intended), and let the towns and cities have more control and less dependancy on the state.

That is essentially what we have in NH. The property tax is what funds most of the govt. 85% of my property tax stays in my town and 85% of that goes to the school. Our state legistlature is in session only 6 months out of the year and they get paid $100/year in salary. It works for NH....

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

That is essentially what we have in NH. The property tax is what funds most of the govt. 85% of my property tax stays in my town and 85% of that goes to the school. Our state legistlature is in session only 6 months out of the year and they get paid $100/year in salary. It works for NH....

That makes more sense. Why should my town or I be responsible for another town's wasteful spending. The people in my town can control for the most part what happens here, but not across the state. And don't even think about all this wasted money in the federal government.