Implementing sales tax (Concord, Keene, Portsmouth: rent, crime rate, how much)

[vter]

Tara - it's still snowing and hard from the look of those photos. Sure the plows will be out doing sweeps here and there, but the majority of the clean up does not happen until after the storm has stopped. Perhaps you have unrealistic expectations as you've never been through a New England winter before?
That said, I wish you luck on your adventure back to FL. It's always a challenge to adapt to somewhere new. Some do and some don't. Thats just the way life works.

[Lincolnian]

Take it from a CT resident who spends a lot of time in NH, more taxes does not solve problems. People who moved to NH fled high tax states like CT and MA. It seems that some of them now want to recreate the very situations they fled.

Living in NH is more about self-sufficiency and old Yankee spirit not having the government take care of everything.

As far as charging higher taxes to those of us who own property in NH but live out of state that is suicide. In many towns the full-time resident population is a fraction of the total population. Those part-timers paying taxes for second homes are contributing to the schools, libraries, roads, and other vital services but are not fully using them.

The tax burden would be much higher if the second home owners weren't contributing to the local tax base.

[CometVoyager]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

Take it from a CT resident who spends a lot of time in NH, more taxes does not solve problems. People who moved to NH fled high tax states like CT and MA. It seems that some of them now want to recreate the very situations they fled.

Living in NH is more about self-sufficiency and old Yankee spirit not having the government take care of everything.

As far as charging higher taxes to those of us who own property in NH but live out of state that is suicide. In many towns the full-time resident population is a fraction of the total population. Those part-timers paying taxes for second homes are contributing to the schools, libraries, roads, and other vital services but are not fully using them.

The tax burden would be much higher if the second home owners weren't contributing to the local tax base.

Good Heads Up Lincolnian!

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by CometVoyager

Good Heads Up Lincolnian!

Fight it! I love NH the way it is. I have many great neighbors in NH and we look out and help out each other. The main threat to NH are hypocritical transplants who clear-cut ridge tops and demand Boston city services from small towns operating with a part-time municipal staff.

I look forward to living FULL TIME in NH someday and hope that the character of its culture and beauty of its environment are still intact.

[WIMU]

I live in a small town in NH around 4000 pop. We never had any problem with the roads ever and we just voted down any increase in our budget, The dept heads all cut budgets to reflect the non increase and everybody goes on with life. Nothing was life threatening that was cut. We are 15 minutes from anything we could ever want and we don't care if there is a mall or restaurant down the street as we are living in a living post card and the beauty is all around us 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year and you cant have it any better than that. We lived in an area for 6 years that is building evry imaginable strip mall, mall, office bldg, hotel, restaurants, fast food, industrial bldgs, 300 home subdivisions on 1/4 acre lots and they save a 10 acre plot for a park out of 200,000 acre and say they have green space to enjoy. May as well live in downtown LA or Chicago. The beauty of an area like NH never disappears unless over developed and the true beauty is the views and the 4 seasons which stay the same but are constantly changing every year ever so subtly. That is why it is never boring.

[Valerie C]

WIMU, maybe you could PM Comet with the name your lovely town. I'm sure you want to keep it a secret and not have everybody running to move into their little piece of paradise

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by vter

Tara - it's still snowing and hard from the look of those photos. Sure the plows will be out doing sweeps here and there, but the majority of the clean up does not happen until after the storm has stopped. Perhaps you have unrealistic expectations as you've never been through a New England winter before?
That said, I wish you luck on your adventure back to FL. It's always a challenge to adapt to somewhere new. Some do and some don't. Thats just the way life works.

I don't think I have unreal expectations however I do have some expectations of clearer roads than I've experienced. Life does not stop because of a snowstorm and the fact that they put one plow out is just unacceptable. Gov't officials cannot do their jobs with roads like that and honestly thats just a matter of safety. People do not stop having heart attacks, or babies or broken bones because of a snow storm and when needed they must get medical attention. They know it snows here and should be ontop of it asap no excuses. I have been out of the roads faster after a cat 3 hurricane than I was able to be in a single snow storm here no joke. The police depts should not have to call out the plows which has happen several times because of accidents. They typically wait until 4 or more accidents have been reported before getting them out. Something wrong with that? I think so. I find a lot of "yeah but" type answers to anything wrong brought up here.Its like " I can't get to the hospital cause they don't plow the roads, yeah but I have beautiful views of mountains when I wake up so its okay. My electic bill criples me every month, yeah but the fall is so beautiful with all the leaves, so its okay".
The NH forum has become very pollyanna about the state and its kind of a running joke between a couple people on private messages. Its a very decieving to people looking for answers. Perfect example someone asked about any bad places in Bedford to avoid. The answer, there aren't any.. EVERY single town has a place that isn't kosher. I don't care where you are.

It seems when something its wrong its only becasue someone has not adapted or not used to it. The plain fact of the matter is they absolutely STINK at keeping the roads clean or their schools up to date, or any technology up to date. Who wants to live somewhere where you can't even get something as simple as cable? Thats ludacris ,we're talking about something thats been around for 30 years or so and they STILL can't implement that? Come on now folks lets be more realistic about this state. It is a nice state, but it has its faults and lets stop trying to make an excuse for every thing that goes wrong.

[fishnfool]

It sounds like your issues with Keane are specific to Keane. It snows here, it takes time to clear the roads, and I haven't had a problem. Knowing I was moving here, I sold my 2WD drive truck and got a 4x4....planned ahead. The road crews do a fantastic job overall and they are cleared much faster than anything I experienced in Ohio, and I thought they were good. I've never been to Keane so I'm not going to pretend I know how it is, but everywhere else I've been there hasn't been a problem.

My electic bill criples me every month, yeah but the fall is so beautiful with all the leaves, so its okay".

You have a poorly insulated apartment, or condo, or house plain and simple......something unrelated to the overall state, the leaves, etc. Sorry for that....but when you move somewhere new it's not at all out of line to ask to see utility bills and information from past years. It was one of the first things I asked about when I saw my place.

Bedford to avoid. The answer, there aren't any.. EVERY single town has a place that isn't kosher. I don't care where you are.

You should really visit Detroit or some of the bad parts of Cleveland. I think you're definition of "bad parts" would change pretty quickly. All of NH isn't great, but it absolutely IS Polyanna compared to those areas. Even my old city had big time gang issues, gunshots were the norm in certain areas, we had a pretty high murder rate and violent crime rate and it didn't approach what Detroit is like. Seriously, if you've never actually been to areas ruled by gangs where the cops won't even go then you don't really know what a bad area is.

Who wants to live somewhere where you can't even get something as simple as cable?

It sounds like you don't.......but you chose to move there correct?

Come on now folks lets be more realistic about this state. It is a nice state, but it has its faults and lets stop trying to make an excuse for every thing that goes wrong.

Sure it has faults, but far less than any other place I've been. You can and will find faults in anything if you look hard enough. Your issues do not apply to the entire state and it's unrealistic to to apply them as such.

[fishnfool]

As for the tax issue....once acquired, the government will NEVER relinquish power or money. The thought that one tax will go down if another goes up is completely naive.

The founders of this country realized this and did their best to create a government with as limited a scope and power as possible, with as little impediment to society and life in general as possible, and with as little of a tax burden as possible. Since then all we have been doing is growing the size, scope, power, and pocketbook of government. We'll never get back the liberties we have freely relinquished or the taxes we have accepted, and we really don't deserve to, but the last thing we should do is give up even more in the hopes that the government will do something it hasn't done in the last 232 years.

[JMX]

Originally Posted by fishnfool

As for the tax issue....once acquired, the government will NEVER relinquish power or money. The thought that one tax will go down if another goes up is completely naive.

That is so true.

Here in AZ, we have all three of the deadly taxes: property tax, income tax, and sales tax. And they all keep going UP!!

And the argument for raising taxes is always an appeal to the emotions of the voters. "Oh, but if we don't raise this tax we will have to cut the budget for the police and fire departments."

Meanwhile, huge chunks of the tax revenues are given out to special interests groups. Here in AZ, it is mostly real estate developers. There is a symbiotic relationship between the government and developers. The state or city raises taxes, and then hands out tax credits to developers. And we are talking HUGE sums of money, like $100 million in one recent case.

Most legislators will not vote to lower taxes, because it takes away their power to hand out these tax credits to special interests. And having that power is very useful to them personally.

So the average citizen keeps paying higher taxes, while the well-connected get tax breaks, and the bureaucrats in the middle line their own pockets for effecting the transfer of wealth via tax law.

Is that what New Hampshirites want for their state? I certainly do not. I see it happening here in Arizona, where it is becoming harder and harder for the average person to be prosperous and to build a happy and comfortable life for themselves and their families.

And that is one of the reasons why I decided to move to NH. Given NH's government structure, it is far more difficult for bureaucrats to cater to developers and other special interests. Voters have a chance to analyze and debate their town budgets, and keep things in check.

But as soon as we implement state-wide taxes, control is taken away from citizens at town meeting and transfered to legislators in Concord. And then that opens to door for special interests to lobby for their slice of the tax pie. And once that door is opened, we will not be able to close it again.

I just do not understand why New Hampshirites would even consider implementing a sales tax or income tax. Just take a look at the neighboring states. Do MA, VT, or ME have an economy that New Hampshirites want to emulate??? Those states are struggling and have many problems, whereas NH has a thriving economy. And the REASON is because of a low tax burden.

We need to keep it that way.