Im thinking of selling cuz taxes are legal extortian!!!! (Winslow: crime rate, home)

[7th generation]

Hi-my mill rate is 14.5/thousand. One can receive a homestead exemption or if you have over 10 acres you can put it in tree growth and save a bundle.

[Submariner]

Maine's Unorganized Township Mill Rates:

Aroostook .00696
Franklin .00883
Hancock .00601
Kennebec .00718
Knox .00472
Lincoln .00505
Oxford .00721
Penobscot .00857
Piscataquis .00725
Somerset .00685
Waldo .00502
Washington .00882

According to Maine.gov, Maine has 457 Un-organized Townships. In these UT communities we pay our property taxes directly to the state.

The above mil rates were copied from:

Tax Rates

[90077]

The thread starter complained about MAINE taxes, not California. Despite what you write or try to imply, Maine taxes ARE high.

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Your profile says L.A.

How much taxes does one acre cost in L.A.?

Here it costs me about $1.05 each year. Riverfrontage that is.

In L.A. on acre would cost like what $5,000 each year?

Your sick, sitting in the land of high taxes and griping about Maine?

LOL

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Maine's Unorganized Township Mill Rates:

Aroostook .00696
Franklin .00883
Hancock .00601
Kennebec .00718
Knox .00472
Lincoln .00505
Oxford .00721
Penobscot .00857
Piscataquis .00725
Somerset .00685
Waldo .00502
Washington .00882

According to Maine.gov, Maine has 457 Un-organized Townships. In these UT communities we pay our property taxes directly to the state.

The above mil rates were copied from:

Tax Rates

I never knew that! I guess in a situation like yours Forest it works out great. Semi retired you don't have to be too concerned with location/employment market and you can enjoy Maine for what it has to offer.

And I agree to the general concensus that moving to another part of the country might bring you Lower taxes and a better earning potential but you will have to give up something. In my situation, Young children, concerned about schools, jobs, income ect I find it harder not to be enticed by opportunities elswhere. And when I see my property taxes increase dramatically year over year it makes me a little bitter.

[Acadianlion]

One of the posters here from Georgia has suggested that we all band together and vote the bureaucrats out so that taxes will be lower.

Here in Maine, we have a remarkably high percentage of voters turning out for each election. In fact for the major elections Maine normally has THE highest percentage of voters turning out. And what do they vote for? Well, for about thirty five years now, they vote largely the same way, and the result is what is being complained about right now.

We have to major problems in the state that drive the state, and therefore cause the tax rates to continue to climb. The two major causes are the states eucational system which is fueled by the residential property tax basis, and is full of waste fraud and abuse by an entrenched education bureaucracy, AND the structure of state government itself which has sixteen separate standing committees vying for the same budgetary dollar but have NO WAY of communicating with each other. The result is a remarkably old fashioned, and inefficient state government that is allowed to continue to spend without any sort of control mechanism. There is simply too much of everything in Augusta.

We keep saying that we want change, and then turn around and vote for the same thing that we have that we complain about. We just had an interim election and we voted FOR more spending. Where do people think the money is going to come from? Here's a hint: its from all of us who live here.

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by Georgia

Money Magazine ranked Maine #1 in overall taxation in the country...

...I have a feeling you don't get what you pay for in Maine either, but until we all ban together and hold taxing beaucrats to account via the ballot box, it does not matter where you go. You will get taxed and will not get what you pay for

Trouble is, bureaucrats are not elected officials and are almost untouchable due to union and civil service regulations. Even a Governor can only change the top 1 or 2 positions in an Executive Department - all the others are protected.

Furthermore, in Maine we enacted term limits for legislators a few years ago, which further tips the balance of power to the unelected bureaucrats - as soon as the legislators start to figure out how things really work, they're out, but the bureaucrats stay, and stay, and stay, and...

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by danpv

The thread starter complained about MAINE taxes, not California. Despite what you write or try to imply, Maine taxes ARE high.

its all relative, and yes, what we value in a lifestyle, i live in maine,,and have a house on the water (for 15 yrs) its valued well over 200k and my property taxes are 750.
maine gets a bad rap, because of income levels, maine use to be a powerhouse in paper/pulp,textiles, shoes, tanneries and of course, fisheries, and agriculture,
however, many mills/ higher paying manufacturing jobs have been replaced by less paying service jobs (keep shopping at wal-mart)
and more and more monies are going out of state for big businesses, home depot/rite-aids, lowes, sams club, wallyword and national franchised restaurants) (they werent in the state 15 yrs ago)

and, maine is a big welfare state, combined with government being the largest employer, and yes, the deck is stacked against us(and the state of maine isnt very well known as business-friendly)

however, as property taxes go, it does depend where, and what town you are in.

i guess its pretty easy to throw mud, from los angeles, or georgia, but having lived in maine, i wouldnt live anywheres' else, especially los angeles, how many people got murdered(in l.a.) in the last week?? can you leave your house unlocked, and not worry about it??
if your car breaks down,, are you more worried about getting your car fixed, or some thug pulling over, to rob you??
is the air fresh, or clean? can you freely walk anywhere, and not worry about a "bad section of town"? or not walk at night?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by danpv

The thread starter complained about MAINE taxes, not California. Despite what you write or try to imply, Maine taxes ARE high.

All things are relative.

One penny would be 'high' as compared to zero.

When each individual tax is lower; than adding than all together the sum is still lower; than if you lived in an area where each tax were higher

I have lived in areas where all taxes were higher. You living in L.A. should also be seeing that.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

One of the posters here from Georgia has suggested that we all band together and vote the bureaucrats out so that taxes will be lower.

Here in Maine, we have a remarkably high percentage of voters turning out for each election. In fact for the major elections Maine normally has THE highest percentage of voters turning out. And what do they vote for? Well, for about thirty five years now, they vote largely the same way, and the result is what is being complained about right now.

We have to major problems in the state that drive the state, and therefore cause the tax rates to continue to climb. The two major causes are the states eucational system which is fueled by the residential property tax basis, and is full of waste fraud and abuse by an entrenched education bureaucracy, AND the structure of state government itself which has sixteen separate standing committees vying for the same budgetary dollar but have NO WAY of communicating with each other. The result is a remarkably old fashioned, and inefficient state government that is allowed to continue to spend without any sort of control mechanism. There is simply too much of everything in Augusta.

We keep saying that we want change, and then turn around and vote for the same thing that we have that we complain about. We just had an interim election and we voted FOR more spending. Where do people think the money is going to come from? Here's a hint: its from all of us who live here.

I agree.

Our state [and likely all states for that matter]; have dozens of budgetary categories which all include waste and growing expenses.

In our own elections, they only will show a couple items of expenditure. And unfortunately voters often vote to spend more money.

Assuming the entire state budget has 200 different line items of expenses, voting on two or three, will never bring down the total state budget.

[and I do not know how many categories of expenditures are on the state budget, though it does sound like a lot of stuff].

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

All things are relative.

One penny would be 'high' as compared to zero.

When each individual tax is lower; than adding than all together the sum is still lower; than if you lived in an area where each tax were higher

I have lived in areas where all taxes were higher. You living in L.A. should also be seeing that.

The tax situation in Maine is frustrating to those of us who live here, who are originally from here, who want to stay here and aren't yet retired, or are retired. We've had the advantage (disadvantage?) of watching the economic situation in Maine over time gradually deteriorate. We know that taxes can be higher in other states. In Maine it is tax burden, the PROPORTION OF TAXES PAID RELATIVE TO INCOME that concerns us. We feel that we need to remind ourselves and each other so that maybe gradually we can reverse the decline and try to get our ship headed in a better direction.