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Overall tax burden is generally calculated as a percentage of income. NH tends to have a lot of people working in Mass., with the high incomes associated with the Financial and other lucrative industries. When they say we have one of the lowest tax burdens in the country, it does NOT mean taxes are low here. It really means that incomes are, in general, pretty high.
While the incomes may be high your math isn't making much sense because there is no income tax (except for the interest & dividend tax). While people with a high income may not pay property tax directly -- paying indirectly through rent for which no number can be certain -- and people with a lower income might own property, I suspect there would be an averaging out over a total population. One can get very skewed information by focusing data on only the largest city in each state and making interesting assumptions, such as those shown at Tax Burdens: Retirement Living Information Center. Estimating the tax hit with reasonably complete explanations of the foundation for the tax amounts taken across all the states as a percentage of incomes is still giving a useful overview. Of course, a problem comes in wild and crazy assessments.
[quote=lreznick;23567039]While the incomes may be high your math isn't making much sense because there is no income tax (except for the interest & dividend tax). [\quote]
For everyones benefit - it's always better with numbers. While I won't share my income, I will share my property tax (rounded) info. I will use a hypothetical income example.
I live in Brookline. I have 80,000 sq ft (min building lot size). 2500 sq ft house. My property taxes are right about $9500 anually.
Let's say Married couple lives in So NH, one works in MA, the other works in NH. Combined income is around $100K anually. MA is going to take around $3K for out of state tax assuming income is equally split between spouses. Property tax = $9500 + $3K out of state tax = $12.5K. Likely all tax deductable (sched A). About 12.5% of income.
I have relatives in SC (1.5 hours from Atlanta). They have a smaller home (1800? sq ft), two 'building lots' (around 1 acre total) and a pool. City water, septic, paved driveway, city trash pickup, and city traffic (they live about 1 mile from a 'Amherst st in Nashua' type road with all the lights).
They pay around $1200 anually for property tax, but have a 6% income and sales tax. Likely, the NH married couple would make less in the SC neighborhood. A guess at $75K. Math would be $75K * 6% = $4500 for income tax, plus the $1200 in property taxes = $5700. The 6% sales tax is difficult to factor in, so lets work backwards. The $5700 is about 7.6% of the $75K income. 12.5% of 75K is $9375. Subtract the $5700 already spent, leaving $3675. The $3675 would have to be the sales tax.... so that is 6% of what - $61250. The chances of someone spending $61K from a $75K income is pretty remote. Then there is the fact that Duke power is cheaper than PSNH, and gasoline is $0.05 - $0.10 per gallon cheaper.
Oh - the majority of the SC taxes would qualify for Sched A also.
Personally, I got out of high school here in NH, and 3 years later, I was living with those relatives in SC. I started college there, and it's difficult to compare high school with college, but I thought the education was significantly better there. This was > 25 years ago and things (I hope) have changed. The property tax numbers are pretty much current to 2012 however.
NH is pretty, but just because we have no income and sales taxes, does not make it cheaper.
Keep that in mind when you vote at your local school and town meetings. Your voting (yea or ney) or non-voting is what dictates your property tax bill.
Moving to NH myself and can say I'm reluctant. Going to have to fork out 1600 a month for a 1400 sqft townhouse which is depressing. So many complain about MA prices but NH are worse. At least there is no state tax, but if you buy your get raped. Did I mention that almost every property on the MLS appears to be straight out of the 70s or 80s. Down south I can live like a king for these prices. If it wasnt for family, I would be moving back. Its sacrifice I have to make.
Two more things....believe the median income is in the 40k range and the median housing is in the 240K range. I have no idea how this is possible but then again maybe thats why the banks are in the position they are and It appears the north has never heard of a two car garage. How is that possible in a state that gets that much snow!
I'm in SoCal. Property taxes are only about 1% of assessed value here. It's pretty cheap. They rape me elsewhere. I gotta agree with the other poster about NH. Overall cost of living is still WAY BETTER than where I live in CA, but people can get carried away with the whole "no sales tax, no income tax" thing. It's not as cheap as people might think, especially if you are a homeowner...especially if you are a homeowner in a good school district.
But, all that's a small price to pay for having "Live Free or Die" on your license plate. Oh, and the Ipswich clams, fried dough, pu pu platters...
Moving to NH myself and can say I'm reluctant. Going to have to fork out 1600 a month for a 1400 sqft townhouse which is depressing. !
You need to look more. I pay $1625 a monh for an 1800+ sq ft house on 6+ acres.
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its whats behind 'state' door # 2..?
