Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let me see, besides property tax that's going up every year and set for a re-assessment in '09 you have school levy's AND school bonds that seem to be placed every year for millions, water rights tax, high fuel taxes,in some cities sales tax, if you live in a city water and sewer that go up at least every year, trash tax on top of the bill for having it picked up and a high personal income tax. I know I'm missing something, but you also have to realize this is all on about $8.00 hr average pay. Their favorite thing is to try and break it down to it's only xxx per month more, to make it seem like not a big deal. So unless you come with money it's very hard to make it here and in fact quite a few old timers are being driven out of places like Whitefish because of the tax burden.
Moving here from Wisconsin, dubbed the "retirement hell of the U.S.", taxes in Montana are child's play. My parent pay property taxes close to $4K a year for a 3Bd/2Ba home on a city lot in a farm town in WI. Montana's license plates and tags are higher than WI and there is no sales tax here--that's a plus. Homeowners insurance is less in MT but auto insurance is higher here. Groceries cost more in Montana than many other places. I would have to agree with posters that Montana is certainly not the worst for tax burden. Most residents of other states have to pay for school and local govt levies, sewer/water, etc. too. If you are looking for tax friendly in the West, I believe Wyoming is your best bet overall.
Bozeman and Billings are both nice, taxes here are some of the highest in the nation, and income is 48th, oops we moved up a spot this year, 47th in the nation. We have no sales tax but income tax and property tax are rather high. $1800 a year for 2500 sqft. Look carefully before you leap and if it still suits you, welcome.......
Careful there Jimj. Technically, the State doesn't have a sales tax, but certain communities here do have sales tax. My first encounter with sales tax here in Montana was at St. Regis. I was going to buy a hat marked $7, so I handed the nice lady $7 she kept her hand up. I said; What? Do you need a tip? She said, No, there's two dollar tax on that hat. I honestly thought she was joking. I put the hat back.
A law passed in 1985 gave resort tax authority to towns with populations of less than 5,500 that relied on tourism as their primary industry. No resort tax can be imposed without a vote of the people and no resort tax can exceed 3 percent.-Billings Gazette-
She was over charging anyway. It should have only been .25 cents.
Last edited by JetMech72; 04-05-2008 at 07:29 PM..
Careful there Jimj. Technically, the State doesn't have a sales tax, but certain communities here do have sales tax. My first encounter with sales tax here in Montana was at St. Regis. I was going to buy a hat marked $7, so I handed the nice lady $7 she kept her hand up. I said; What? Do you need a tip? She said, No, there's two dollar tax on that hat. I honestly thought she was joking. I put the hat back.
That's weird, I was just in St. Regis two weeks ago (regular stop on way to Spokane) and bought some stuff at the "quicky mart/tourist store/restaraunt" and didn't hit the tax thing. I wonder if it was just the tourist store stuff or if you were being taken?
I should have added that some cities (like whitefish) have instituted a resort sales tax. Thanks for correcting me on that...
Let me see, besides property tax that's going up every year and set for a re-assessment in '09 you have school levy's AND school bonds that seem to be placed every year for millions, water rights tax, high fuel taxes,in some cities sales tax, if you live in a city water and sewer that go up at least every year, trash tax on top of the bill for having it picked up and a high personal income tax. I know I'm missing something, but you also have to realize this is all on about $8.00 hr average pay. Their favorite thing is to try and break it down to it's only xxx per month more, to make it seem like not a big deal. So unless you come with money it's very hard to make it here and in fact quite a few old timers are being driven out of places like Whitefish because of the tax burden.
Gotta agree with the premise here - my property taxes have more than doubled in the last seven years, and I fully expect this to continue with all the people moving here; and I'm a good thirty miles west of Bozeman. And the one that jimj mentions - that 50 cent tax on fuel; that's a bunch. And every time I want to fish, hunt, camp, drive through the park, or fly out of the airport there's another bunch of quiet little fees (disagree with Y.N.P. so much that I haven't been there for years unless we have to be in there to work). Amongst all the little nuisance fees, the one I disagree with the most is the little $15 fee to "register" my small business at home. What that does is a mystery to me - oh wait, I do get a ton of junk mail every year that I'm pretty sure eminates from this "registration". And I'm sure if anyone takes the time to look at a fee and tax roster for here or anywhere, for that matter, they'd just get redder in the face by the minute. And add to this mix the fact that good wages are hard to find here; better than they used to be but not keeping up.
There are a lot of people having to sell the house in Bozeman they raised their kids in - now with everyone having to have it all and now, please, bonds and mill levys have driven these folks out or forced them into a reverse mortgage/savings burning trial to stay in their house. We may not have the worst tax/fee schedule in the U.S., but a fair share of what we pay seem to not be the choice of most people I know.
/hate paying to get into a place that my tax $$ have already paid for
//a lot of times, it isn't the purchase or implementation, it's the maintenance
The root of the problem is that while WE have to live within our means, the government does not -- any time they want to rack up more debt, they just take it out of OUR pockets. And WE LET THEM DO IT.
On that note, here's an article someone recently sent me:
===============
545 People
By Charlie Reese --
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.
I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.
No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget.
He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House?
She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.
If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel
=====================
Gotta agree with the premise here - my property taxes have more than doubled in the last seven years, and I fully expect this to continue with all the people moving here; and I'm a good thirty miles west of Bozeman. And the one that jimj mentions - that 50 cent tax on fuel; that's a bunch. And every time I want to fish, hunt, camp, drive through the park, or fly out of the airport there's another bunch of quiet little fees (disagree with Y.N.P. so much that I haven't been there for years unless we have to be in there to work). Amongst all the little nuisance fees, the one I disagree with the most is the little $15 fee to "register" my small business at home. What that does is a mystery to me - oh wait, I do get a ton of junk mail every year that I'm pretty sure eminates from this "registration". And I'm sure if anyone takes the time to look at a fee and tax roster for here or anywhere, for that matter, they'd just get redder in the face by the minute. And add to this mix the fact that good wages are hard to find here; better than they used to be but not keeping up.
There are a lot of people having to sell the house in Bozeman they raised their kids in - now with everyone having to have it all and now, please, bonds and mill levys have driven these folks out or forced them into a reverse mortgage/savings burning trial to stay in their house. We may not have the worst tax/fee schedule in the U.S., but a fair share of what we pay seem to not be the choice of most people I know.
/hate paying to get into a place that my tax $$ have already paid for
//a lot of times, it isn't the purchase or implementation, it's the maintenance
Excellent examples of a lot of hidden fees which combine to underscore your overall point of taxes eroding economic survival. As a general comment on this thread: it would be more meaningful to compare the PERCENTAGE of taxes of average per capita income. I don't know of an available reference on this. However, it would give a more accurate comparison of total tax burden on a state-by-state basis.
You can check the tax assessments on line. these are public knowledge. You can also see what property is in foreclosure or repossession to possibly get agood deal. Just be sure you find out what the back taxes are that you would have to pay.
You can check the tax assessments on line. these are public knowledge. You can also see what property is in foreclosure or repossession to possibly get agood deal. Just be sure you find out what the back taxes are that you would have to pay.
Not in MT (at least the flathead). You have to be very careful about looking at online info from the local government about real estate here since it's frequently not correct or seriously outdated. They are just starting to come into the information age here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And I'm sure if anyone takes the time to look at a fee and tax roster for here or anywhere, for that matter, they'd just get redder in the face by the minute. And add to this mix the fact that good wages are hard to find here; better than they used to be but not keeping up.
