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Old 01-04-2017, 02:14 PM
KCZ
 
4,655 posts, read 3,619,285 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nhkev View Post
I've lived in 5 states. New Hampshire was my favorite. Things like schools, roads, police, and fire depts. need to be funded. how they are funded is the question. I like property taxes being the funding source because it is not seen as an unlimited supply of money for politicians. they seem to realize by being linked to homes it forces them to be conservative in their spending. Once you add another tax source it is guaranteed that it will be another way to get money not save money. When I lived in New Hampshire my property taxes were $7800 a year. When I lived in Mass they were $7200 but I also had to pay 6% sales tax and 6% income tax which ended up being at least double what I paid in NH as a total tax burden. In Indiana I pay $9000 in property taxes, something like 3.5% state income and 1.5% county income then add a sales tax which I think is 6.5%. these rates did not start at their current rates they only went up... a little at a time.
The only thing I would say is if property taxes were becoming unreasonably high and a new tax source was needed , I would prefer a sales tax. at least with the sales tax you have the ability of having outsiders from other states help contribute. Florida does this as opposed to income tax and due to being a tourist destination they make billions a year in sales tax.
I don't entirely agree with this. Local politicians and officials certainly see the impact of property taxes and that influences local spending accordingly. However, much of education spending is mandated by decisions made in Concord, and also in Washington, and those officials have no concept of the effect of property taxes on me or my neighbors.
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Old 01-04-2017, 07:51 PM
miu
 
Location: MA/NH
17,764 posts, read 40,065,026 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KCZ View Post
I don't entirely agree with this. Local politicians and officials certainly see the impact of property taxes and that influences local spending accordingly. However, much of education spending is mandated by decisions made in Concord, and also in Washington, and those officials have no concept of the effect of property taxes on me or my neighbors.
And I disagree with you. Our town's property assessor lives in a town north of us, and all he cares about is meeting the revenue figures. As to the town budget, those with children only care about their kids and their needs. They pushed for full day kindergarten and we successfully fought back. But their desire for having full day kindergarten was not only for their kids, but so that their mothers could have more work hours. But it didn't make sense to the rest of us to have to pay so much more so that their mothers could work a few hours more a week at minimum wage.

We've also fought against having a new police and fire department complex being built. The police department snuck in a new cruiser into the school budget. And we have a police dog and handler that we don't want or need.

If people want kids, they need to be able to pay for their own children's needs and not expect others to pay so much towards what they want. It's one thing to have to contribute to basic school needs, but if parents want more for their kids, let them cough up the difference. And there should be a cap on how much is spent on a special needs child, or have the state or feds kick in (more) towards that.

And yes, senior homeowners should get a larger discount on their taxes. Perhaps there could be a formula factoring their years owning their home in their town and some factors on how many (or no) children they had had in their lives.
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Old 01-05-2017, 12:39 PM
 
27 posts, read 23,743 times
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Legalize and tax marijuana. Then either decrease or eliminate the BET tax. This probably won't completely solve the problem, but it would encourage economic growth. It makes zero sense to tax business wages, which encourages companies to pay their workforce less money.

I am generally not in favor of an income tax due to the points already discussed, and am strongly against any type of sales tax (which also encourages consumers to buy less in our state and depresses our state economy). I would be OK with a small income tax if they could guarantee that property taxes would go down by the same amount, but they would never do that.

Last edited by JustTryIt; 01-05-2017 at 12:51 PM..
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Old 01-08-2017, 08:39 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,613,550 times
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miu - I support things such as full time Kindergarten because it frees up workers to commute to Boston and bring back their paychecks to spend in NH. Besides well educated children pay more into my wife and my social security.


I would agree with an income tax so long as it is on ALL INCOME FROM ALL SOURCES with a base deduction equal to the 90th percentile.
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Old 01-08-2017, 12:44 PM
 
2,669 posts, read 2,603,165 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I would agree with an income tax so long as it is on ALL INCOME FROM ALL SOURCES with a base deduction equal to the 90th percentile.
It's entirely possible to get an income tax that starts out that way. I wouldn't bet on it staying that way for long, though
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Old 01-08-2017, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Central CT, sometimes FL and NH.
4,510 posts, read 6,752,908 times
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We once had no income tax in Connecticut. Then in 1991 Governor Weicker swindled us into one at 4.5%. Now it ranges 6 to 6.9%. Originally they reduced our sales tax from 8% to 6%. Now it's 6.35% and discussions are underway to raise it to 6.85%. Once clothing was exempt from sales tax. Now it's fully taxable. Add in all the other "fees" and increases in gas, liquor, cigarette, as well as service taxes and we've got plenty. Interestingly, despite all theses "revenue" sources we have the highest deficits ever and have had to significantly cut essential services to our neediest residents. Be careful NH when you invite the income tax into your state. You don't want to follow our path as our people and businesses are heading out.
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Old 01-09-2017, 07:59 AM
 
Location: Sandwich
376 posts, read 392,777 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lincolnian View Post
We once had no income tax in Connecticut. Then in 1991 Governor Weicker swindled us into one at 4.5%. Now it ranges 6 to 6.9%. Originally they reduced our sales tax from 8% to 6%. Now it's 6.35% and discussions are underway to raise it to 6.85%. Once clothing was exempt from sales tax. Now it's fully taxable. Add in all the other "fees" and increases in gas, liquor, cigarette, as well as service taxes and we've got plenty. Interestingly, despite all theses "revenue" sources we have the highest deficits ever and have had to significantly cut essential services to our neediest residents. Be careful NH when you invite the income tax into your state. You don't want to follow our path as our people and businesses are heading out.


Exactly the problem with any new tax. Also, don't forget at one time the CT politician's answer was the lotto and then revenue from the casinos to resolve all the states budget woes. Fast forward to today and the state has a deficit of over a billion dollars. Where does all the money go? Bottom line is if they can get there hands on it, they'll find a "good" cause to spend it on so keep it out of reach in the first place.
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:34 AM
 
5,291 posts, read 6,118,078 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miu View Post


If people want kids, they need to be able to pay for their own children's needs and not expect others to pay so much towards what they want. It's one thing to have to contribute to basic school needs, but if parents want more for their kids, let them cough up the difference. And there should be a cap on how much is spent on a special needs child, or have the state or feds kick in (more) towards that.

Agreed.

Back in the early 1950s when I went to elementary school, educational facilities and structures were primitive by today's standards: a wooden school building built in 1879, 55-60 students per classroom, no school buses, no cafeteria (and no vending machines), no gym, never went on a field trip, no teachers aides, no computers and student supplies consisted of 1 writing tablet and 2 pencils at the start of each 6 week marking period. Elementary teachers were products of 2 year "normal schools" and badly underpaid. But they employed a very effective teaching methodology based on the behaviorist principles of Edward Lee Thorndike and we learned very rapidly.


Alas, going back to those "good old days" is an impossibility. Education "hype" is part and parcel of the "new economy." That means spending megabucks on all of the bells and whistles, regardless of whether a school district is rich or poor or if children are really learning or just going through the motions. And the disabilities acts mandate that districts provide remediation services to all that need them. One autistic child in a district can really skew the per pupil costs. Below is a link to a list of per pupil expenditures per district in NH, which range from a low of about $11,000 to over $28,000.


http://education.nh.gov/data/documen...t_pup15_16.pdf


If nothing is done to curb costs or adopt other sources of school funding, NH foreclosures will soar.
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:28 AM
KCZ
 
4,655 posts, read 3,619,285 times
Reputation: 13275
Those expenditures aren't the whole story. Wealthy towns with large tax bases can support higher expenditures. The problems happen when a small town ends up with a large school budget. Here are the school tax rates by town, along with the tax base. For example, Gilford and Canaan have nearly the same per pupil expenditures, but look at the difference in the tax rates.
http://revenue.nh.gov/mun-prop/munic...inal-rates.pdf
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Old 01-09-2017, 01:14 PM
miu
 
Location: MA/NH
17,764 posts, read 40,065,026 times
Reputation: 18068
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
miu - I support things such as full time Kindergarten because it frees up workers to commute to Boston and bring back their paychecks to spend in NH.
Not really. How does putting a child into full time kindergarten give a the primary caregiving parent the opportunity to work a full time job in Boston let alone in NH? Full time kindergarten isn't longer than 8 hours. Then add in commuting time.

IMO a child that young still needs a lot of quality parent time. And full time kindergarten isn't a significant factor in a child ending up well educated. Being well educated how more to do with how the child is parenting and that parent being a good role model for their children.

Quote:
Besides well educated children pay more into my wife and my social security.
In NH, I've found that the people who working locally and pulling in the big bucks are the tradespeople. So you might want to reconsider that stereotype of yours about who is paying the most into the social security fund.

Otherwise, the answer to making a good income while living in NH should not be a long commute into Boston. Hopefully in the future, better NH jobs will be creating for the residents.
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