[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Stepfordct

New hampshire is doing well. Partly due to folks working in greater Boston area commuting from income/ sales tax free NH!

New Hampshire is two states. The southern tier is a Boston suburb and is doing fine. The rest of the state is struggling like any rural place. The top 10% of every High School graduating class finishes college and vanishes. Big opiate addiction issues. The main jobs are service sector to the affluent Bostonians.

The big New Hampshire advantage is no failed cities. Manchester is only 110,000. It never saw the southern migration. It doesn’t have as severe a generational poverty problem from all the single parents in Section 8 housing. You don’t have the budget busting Medicaid and K-12 school support problems.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by Stepfordct

New hampshire is doing well. Partly due to folks working in greater Boston area commuting from income/ sales tax free NH!

Don't forget they are paying MA sales tax on top of the high property taxes as well as spending an hour plus in traffic.

Compare a friend to me - similar jobs, similar incomes, similar homes, me in MA, he in NH:

Income taxes: same 5.1% as he made his money in MA
Property tax: me $6K, he $12K
School cost: me $0, he $6-15K annually as the town he lived in had lower performing schools
Time in traffic: me 30-40 minutes each way, he 60-75 minutes each way.

[Stepfordct]

Not sure why your paying sales tax in mass living in NH?
Anyways the point is NH is not lagging behind like most of New England.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by Stepfordct

Not sure why your paying sales tax in mass living in NH?
Anyways the point is NH is not lagging behind like most of New England.

My bad, should be income tax as noted in my chart. Money earned in MA is subject to MA income tax no matter where you live.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

Whoop de doo, we need to measure up well nationally, not jus regionally. The whole Northeast is a laggard economically except for Massachusetts.

Despite the high taxes in Mass? or did Mass lower their taxes when I wasn't watching ?

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

Despite the high taxes in Mass? or did Mass lower their taxes when I wasn't watching ?

Massachusetts is middle of the road nationally when you rank states by tax burden. It's only high tax if you are inside 495 where the huge home valuations make for high property taxes. Even with a $11.50 mill rate, when your modest 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 1/4 acre is valued at $1.25 million, you're paying pretty big taxes.


The 5.10% flat state income tax makes Massachusetts relatively low tax if you're making real money. Filling single, the crossover compared to Connecticut is about $125K. The rate never goes up because everyone in the state pays the same tax and the voters would scream. There may be a 4% millionaire tax surcharge coming but not this year. The ballot initiative was struck down by the state supreme court.



My mill rate is $9.70. A separate fire department tax kicks it up to about $10.00. I'm beyond commutable distance from the high paying Boston job market so house prices in my town look like West Hartford.


Massachusetts is high if you're sitting in New Hampshire working in New Hampshire. Compared to most of the blue states, it's moderate if you're making $150K+ or dual income $250K+ where the higher graduated income tax brackets kick in. Massachusetts has the same failed city problem everyone else in the Northeast Corridor has. Somebody has to pay that big Medicaid bill and K-12 school bill for the low income cities. Same math as Connecticut. With the flat income tax and Proposition 2 1/2 limiting property taxes (and auto excise taxes), Massachusetts had to practice fiscal restraint from the late-1970's onwards. It was considered very high tax in 1975. The tax burden hasn't changed since then. If you're sitting in the corner office in an office tower, it makes Massachusetts attractive compared to many high COL states.

[BobNJ1960]

New Haven-Milford region 23rd..UGH

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...nb7Kz#image=29

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

New Haven-Milford region 23rd..UGH

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...nb7Kz#image=29

-0.2% - Hardly worth worrying about. Mostly due to smaller families and being a maturely developed area with little room for new growth. Jay

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by JayCT

-0.2% - Hardly worth worrying about. Mostly due to smaller families and being a maturely developed area with little room for new growth. Jay

net migration loss, not net % change which immigration can mask, is the sort here-and the right sort.


Troubling.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

net migration loss, not net % change which immigration can mask, is the sort here-and the right sort.


Troubling.

Makes little difference. Again no big deal. Jay