Moving to Maine from NH? (Augusta: credit, homes, transfer)

[sassenach76]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Let me add a few factors to help you decide:

You can drive a hundred miles and never see a "No Trespassing" sign.
A 3 bedroom house with garage that costs $250,000 in NH costs $125,000 in Maine. Same house.
Maine is big; bigger than the other 5 New England states combined.
(NH would fit neatly in Aroostook County.)
The fishing is great and our lakes are not crowded.

But you can't hunt on Sunday.

I like your take on this. LOL about Aroostook County, and very true!

Now, that last part about hunting on Sunday, I had no idea!!! Wow... I'll have to ask my husband if he knew that. Not that it's a dealbreaker of course, but that's interesting.

Oh, I thought of another one... you can buy liquor in the grocery store. I never knew that until a few years ago; thought it was kinda cool.

[sassenach76]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

When myhusband and I were house shopping we chose Wells because of the comparatively low property taxes and minimum of restrictions. There are a few more ordinances now and the taxes have crept up a little, but I think the taxes are still low.

Thanks for your input from the Wells side of things, that's good to know. We've visited Wells for years. My uncle used to rent a beach house for a week or two every summer when I was a kid and invite us to spend a night or two. He recently bought a house there and now lives there year-round. I'd ask his opinion of things but, well, we're not exactly speaking, so that puts a damper on that, LOL. Oh well, perhaps winding up in the same town would change things, who knows?

[Newdaawn]

I guess I missed that vote on the tax for "visits to the Dr's office" when was that held?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Newdaawn

I guess I missed that vote on the tax for "visits to the Dr's office" when was that held?

Five days ago.

It was to tax doctor office visits, and to tax alcohol, and to tax soda pop syrup.

[cyc1e]

"... Also, it is rumored that if my husband were to work in Maine while I kept my job in NH and we lived in NH, then they could tax my income. Is that true? It just sounds crazy to me!"

"Every state that taxes income does that.

The state you have an income stream from taxes it."

Unless this has recently changed, I'm not convinced the above is accurate.

When we lived in NH, residents with one spouse working in Maine were taxed this way:

Maine has a graduated (aka progressive) income tax. Those with higher houshold incomes pay a higher tax rate (percentage). Although the tax rate is based on your combined income, the tax itself is only on the Maine income.

To compare a state's tax burden, the Tax Foundation is helpful. They show total state and local tax burden for 2007 as:

Maine 10% (of income) Ranked 14th of 50 states.
New Hampshire is 7.7% (of income) Ranked 46th of 50 states.

The Tax Foundation - State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977-2008

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by cyc1e

... Maine has a graduated (aka progressive) income tax. Those with higher houshold incomes pay a higher tax rate (percentage). Although the tax rate is based on your combined income, the tax itself is only on the Maine income.

It is my understanding that all states which tax income do this.

Just like the Federal government.

... To compare a state's tax burden, the Tax Foundation is helpful. They show total state and local tax burden for 2007 as:

Maine 10% (of income) Ranked 14th of 50 states.
New Hampshire is 7.7% (of income) Ranked 46th of 50 states.

Keep in mind that information from 'The Tax Foundation' is very misleading.

Looking at the median income makes many assumptions.

Dividing the state's annual budget out among it's population, assumes that 'tax burden' is distributed evenly. It is not.

The information is presented in a manner to imply that Mainers have high taxes.

Clearly this is not the case.

But many argument become possible when you present statistics, even though they may fly in the face of reality.

[cyc1e]

Beekeeper:

I'm confused. In sassenach76's example, you said that Maine (and every state) would taxe her NH income (if she still lived in NH).

That's not true. Maine does not do this. Maine would only use her NH income to determine the rate that her husband's income would be taxed at.

"Keep in mind that information from 'The Tax Foundation' is very misleading.
Looking at the median income makes many assumptions.
Dividing the state's annual budget out among it's population, assumes that 'tax burden' is distributed evenly. It is not."

Correct - I was the one who posted about the progressive tax!

"The information is presented in a manner to imply that Mainers have high taxes."

Again, I'm not convinced. The Tax Foundation is certainly anti tax, but the rankings show every state ranked the same way - ie. State and local tax burden as a percentage of (average) income.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by cyc1e

Beekeeper:

I'm confused. In sassenach76's example, you said that Maine (and every state) would taxe her NH income (if she still lived in NH).

That's not true. Maine does not do this. Maine would only use her NH income to determine the rate that her husband's income would be taxed at.

If you lived in California; and had a California income, and an Oregon income. You would file in California a 'resident' income tax form to pay taxes on your California income, and you would file an Oregon 'non-resident' tax form to pay taxes on your Oregon income. Now if Oregon had no income taxes, then you would not have to file there.

If you lived in NY; and had a NY income, and an NJ income. You would file in NY a 'resident' income tax form to pay taxes on your NY income, and you would file an NJ 'non-resident' tax form to pay taxes on your NJ income. Now if NJ had no income taxes, then you would not have to file there.

If you lived in Wa; and had a Wa income, and an Ca income. You would file in Wa a 'resident' income tax form to pay taxes on your Wa income, and you would file an Ca 'non-resident' tax form to pay taxes on your Ca income. Now if Ca had no income taxes, then you would not have to file there.

...
"Keep in mind that information from 'The Tax Foundation' is very misleading.
Looking at the median income makes many assumptions.
Dividing the state's annual budget out among it's population, assumes that 'tax burden' is distributed evenly. It is not."

Correct - I was the one who posted about the progressive tax!

"The information is presented in a manner to imply that Mainers have high taxes."

Again, I'm not convinced. The Tax Foundation is certainly anti tax, but the rankings show every state ranked the same way - ie. State and local tax burden as a percentage of (average) income.

I moved to Maine and I am now basking in the low taxes that I pay here.

I have lived in other states previously where I paid much higher taxes than I pay in Maine.

To see a website that implies that living in Maine would cause a person to pay higher taxes, is obviously the opposite of my observations.

I am not alone, others here on CD have posted previously that they also have found that taxes in Maine have been surprisingly low. Lower than they had expected from hearing about Maine's tax reputation.

[cyc1e]

"If you lived in xxxx; and had a xxx income, and an yyyy income. You would file in xxxx a 'resident' income tax form to pay taxes on your xxxx income, and you would file an yyyy 'non-resident' tax form to pay taxes on your yyyy income. Now if yyyy had no income taxes, then you would not have to file there."

Maybe we should take these one at a time?

The issue is not where one files their tax return.
The issue is if Maine taxes spousal, nonresident, out of state income.
(Couple lives in NH and one spouse works in NH , one spouse works in Maine. )

My wife & I previously lived in NH.

She worked in Maine, I worked in NH

Our Maine state income tax rate (percentage) was computed using our gross
household income. (adding her income and my income.)

That rate was then applied only to her income.

I did not pay Maine income tax on my income. It was only used to compute our tax rate (bracket, percentage, whatever you want to call it.)

[cyc1e]

"I moved to Maine and I am now basking in the low taxes that I pay here.
I have lived in other states previously where I paid much higher taxes than I pay in Maine. To see a website that implies that living in Maine would cause a person to pay higher taxes, is obviously the opposite of my observations. I am not alone, others here on CD have posted previously that they also have found that taxes in Maine have been surprisingly low. Lower than they had expected from hearing about Maine's tax reputation."

So the thought here is that your personal anecdote is more compelling than the Tax Foundations comparative research? They're not picking on Maine, they're just making comparative rankings.

I wouldn't read more into it than what we've already said. Again: State & local tax as a percentage of average income.

Its just a barometer - obviously in a progressive tax system those who make less like it better than those who make more.

My wife and I pay a lot more tax in Maine than we used to pay in NH. How does that help the OP?