Amazon New HQ (50k jobs), MA? (Boston, Worcester: chapel, public school, tax rates)

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by Alewife

Washington State, where Amazon and Microsoft are currently headquartered, has no personal income tax.

MA is up against places like TX where not only is there no personal income tax, but also no corporate income tax.

Connecticut? Really? It's a case study in economic collapse.

If you look at total tax burden mass is pretty middle of the pack.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

It’s basically impossible to respond to the above on my phone. And it seems you’ve strayed far from the original topic toward broader trends in the economy, the desirability of Springfield, and who I’ve been involved in hiring (yes, and languishing on the market is a huge turnoff).

Amazon has low pay jobs and high pay jobs. The HQ2 is believed to be looking for the latter. I’m not sure whether they want a high COL place or a low COL place, but whatever advantages Springfield has wrt cost, large Southern cities have, along with actually meeting the stated criteria.

Springfield actually has the worst of both worlds. It has all the disadvantages of Massachusetts with regard to cost of living and sky high utility rates with none of the pros that Boston has. Yes, the housing is cheap, but that's because it's a dangerous, drug infested craphole with a completely stagnant economy.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

If you look at total tax burden mass is pretty middle of the pack.

More than 0% though.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

More than 0% though.

No state is 0%.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

No state is 0%.

There are absolutely states with 0% income tax and 0% sales tax. Yes, the feds always get you.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

There are absolutely states with 0% income tax and 0% sales tax. Yes, the feds always get you.

New Hampshire and Alaska. That's it. New Hampshire has the 3rd highest property tax rate in the country, whereas Alaska has what's left of its oil revenue. Everywhere else either has income or sales taxes (or both).

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

New Hampshire and Alaska. That's it. New Hampshire has the 3rd highest property tax rate in the country, whereas Alaska has what's left of its oil revenue. Everywhere else either has income or sales taxes (or both).

Indeed. I guess I meant an "and/or."

Texas, Washington, and Florida have 0% income tax. And they are in general very desirable these days. Their sales taxes are comparable to Massachusetts. NH obviously has 0% on sales tax and income, but it's not as desirable as the others.

[The_General]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

There are absolutely states with 0% income tax and 0% sales tax. Yes, the feds always get you.

But they have property tax. I never can hear enough of co-workers bitching about paying tax in Massachusetts and then have horrible taxes in New Hampshire. The government always gets its money.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by The_General

But they have property tax. I never can hear enough of co-workers bitching about paying tax in Massachusetts and then have horrible taxes in New Hampshire. The government always gets its money.

Quite. However, if I had to choose between a property tax and income tax, I would take the property tax.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

New Hampshire and Alaska. That's it. New Hampshire has the 3rd highest property tax rate in the country, whereas Alaska has what's left of its oil revenue. Everywhere else either has income or sales taxes (or both).

Additionally, if you're self employed in NH you're subject to various taxes such as enterprise and profits. Given how many people are self employed in services industries, this is not an insignificant number.