Maine Income Tax Rates (real estate, homes, buy)

[bgrasser]

Here is a chart of Income tax rates, I can't understand how some folks
feel that Maine is a low tax state.....unless your in the poverty level.

Maine Income Tax Rates - Maine & other state tax rates information. ME tax calculator.

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by bgrasser

Here is a chart of Income tax rates, I can't understand how some folks
feel that Maine is a low tax state.....unless your in the poverty level.

I can't imagine anyone stating Maine was a low tax state. A few years ago it was the highest taxed state in the country. But don't worry. We are fast approaching the point where over 50% will pay no income taxes. When that happens, there truely will be a free lunch... voted for by the majority. Kinda like the reverse of taxation without representation, it will be representation without taxation!!!!!!

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by bangorme

But don't worry. We are fast approaching the point where over 50% will pay no income taxes.

In Maine? How can I avoid paying income taxes in Maine? How can I be part of the no pay 50% in Maine?

[MainerWannabe]

Originally Posted by bgrasser

Here is a chart of Income tax rates, I can't understand how some folks
feel that Maine is a low tax state.....unless your in the poverty level.

Maine Income Tax Rates - Maine & other state tax rates information. ME tax calculator.

You think that's high?
Try living in California

[Submariner]

I am on a pension. For the past 5 years my Dw has been working p/t in a grocery store. After deductions and exemptions, our AGI was not high enough to pay income taxes. Granted that finally changed this past year, when she was promoted to f/t. The increase in our income has now caused us to begin paying income taxes [barely].

As compared to where we have lived previously, our vehicle taxes moving to Maine were reduced a great deal. Road taxes, Registration fees, license plate fees, property taxes [here called excise tax], then taxes on each fee; our experience has been that owning a vehicle in Maine is much less expensive than the places where we have lived previously.

We have owned homes in four other places before we moved to Maine. Our experience with real estate taxes has been that we pay much less now for our home in Maine, than what we paid previously for any of our other homes.

Clearly Maine has a depressed economy.

Clearly moving to Maine to find economic prosperity might be a mistake.

As NMLM points out frequently Maine tends to have a high 'tax burden' [even though individual taxes tend to be low].

None of this is contrary to us retirees who wish to bring our pensions with us, to live in a low cost-of-living rural state, and pay less taxes. Who knows maybe our pensions may help to stir up the local economy.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

In Maine? How can I avoid paying income taxes in Maine? How can I be part of the no pay 50% in Maine?

Give up your pension and take two part-time jobs, say, one at Dunkin Donuts and the other at one of the many retail store chains.

No, wait...hold on. You'll still pay taxes and if the combined salaries happen to bump you into a higher tax bracket than what each individual job takes out, you may be required to send money in.

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by reloop

Give up your pension and take two part-time jobs, say, one at Dunkin Donuts and the other at one of the many retail store chains.

No, wait...hold on. You'll still pay taxes and if the combined salaries happen to bump you into a higher tax bracket than what each individual job takes out, you may be required to send money in.

I might have misspoken. I meant that we are almost to the 50% level of people not paying FEDERAL income taxes. I suspect that the bar for not paying income taxes in Maine could be more difficult to get under. After all, poverty is relative.

[flycessna]

I think while we argue over who is paying what, the real damage is being done on the other side... where is it going and why are they spending so much..

We need to fix the spending problem! Then we can argue whats fare and who should pay the most ect..

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by reloop

Give up your pension and take two part-time jobs, say, one at Dunkin Donuts and the other at one of the many retail store chains.

No, wait...hold on. You'll still pay taxes and if the combined salaries happen to bump you into a higher tax bracket than what each individual job takes out, you may be required to send money in.

AND.... I'd be taking a couple of jobs away from a rightfully needing Mainer so an old coot can get a little income. I don't think so.

[Zarathu]

Can you still deduct your state taxes from your Federal income tax? I don't know the ins and outs of any of this. I buy the H&R tax program; I put in the numbers; it tells me what they owe me or I owe them. God only knows how this works. The last time I tried to do it myself, I got a call from the local IRS office that I was being audited because I checked the "final return" box. It seemed like the final return for the year, since I know people who file quarterly. It actually means that I am dead.

When they discovered that I wasn't really dead and that I only had my withholding and a couple of certificates of deposit, they were not so hot on auditing me.