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I am not fooled by the maybe. It is common knowledge that conservatives and Republicans magically believe that somehow liberals just love to pay taxes. Give me an effin' brake dude. Maybe if people swore allegiance to common sense instead of to some kooky radio nincompoop more people would realize this. EVERYONE moans and groans over taxes. But I am sure that someone on here is going to tell me that they know some Volvo driving lefty from Amherst who just lloooovvvveeesss to pay taxes
Ok, this does not make sense and is just a play on words. Just because Mainers contribute less money in Federal taxes than other states does not mean that Mainers pay less taxes overall. Federal taxes are a percentage of your income so it does not matter HOW much you are paying because you are PAYING the same amount as everyone else across the country who falls into your same tax bracket.
And, do I need to point out the obvious? Maine contributes less because Maine is sparsely populated state.
I don't doubt that your current taxes are the lowest that you have payed in your life, but I have to ask, did you live out in the sticks and receive tax 'breaks' for growing trees while you lived in CT, CA, Italy, or where ever else?
I am not trying to flame you but based on your posts I get the impression that your taxes are low because of your current living situation/specific location and not because of the state that you live in.
Interesting take on a big issue, and one that you don't seem to grasp; conservatives are the ones that pursue common sense. Most may find that it is liberals that embrace big state solutions to problems, even ones their statism helps to create, and look to others to pay for them. It is for that reason that liberals can never get enough money from those that actually work, for they are always interested in making things "fair" with other folks' money, even when the result is higher spending and having no problem solved. That is the only reason any sane person can espouse the liberal theology of ever-higher government involvement in the lives of its citizens, even as the moral fabric of our nation becomes ever weaker.
If you are going to degrade others' political viewpoints, be prepared to have your own shown to be intellectually indefensible.
As to forest, I suspect he earned the right to collect that military pension and live in his rural area on a low-tax basis by putting up with the government owning his person and controlling every aspect of his life for a couple of decades. I also suspect that anyone who does that deserves any opinion on the matter of taxation (fellow vet, forest).
Interesting take on a big issue, and one that you don't seem to grasp; conservatives are the ones that pursue common sense. Most may find that it is liberals that embrace big state solutions to problems, even ones their statism helps to create, and look to others to pay for them. It is for that reason that liberals can never get enough money from those that actually work, for they are always interested in making things "fair" with other folks' money, even when the result is higher spending and having no problem solved. That is the only reason any sane person can espouse the liberal theology of ever-higher government involvement in the lives of its citizens, even as the moral fabric of our nation becomes ever weaker.
If you are going to degrade others' political viewpoints, be prepared to have your own shown to be intellectually indefensible.
Degrade mine all that you want, but keep in mind that it will be a tough battle for you or anyone else since I hold both conservative and liberal viewpoints but I subscribe to neither party.
I said two things that are true; conservatives who hang onto every word of certain radio personalities do have this notion that liberals like to pay taxes, and, that liberals do not like taxes anymore than anybody else. But my view point doesn't matter anyways because both sides blame the other while not taking on any responsibility for themselves, and the majority of the people are never going to realize that.
Anyways, taxes in Maine are high because Maine is a good sized state with a lot of natural resources that need to be managed and a relatively small population. Yeah, maybe if you live in a rural part of the state your taxes are low, but if you live in Southern Maine you get taxed on (what seems) everything. In a way this seems logical since Southern Maine is where the bulk of the money is.
Do you know how Gov. Scharwzenegger got into office? Well, I'll tell you. California was going through an energy crisis during the 90's and then Gov. Grey Davis was doing a p*ss poor job of handling it. So you know what happened? Californians DEMANDED that he be removed from office and he got the heck out before a lynch mob came after him. I know that a good amount of you like to bad mouth the Baldalcci administration, and I do not blame you for the most part because the guy seems to be on Mars half the time, but the guy has been elected what, three times? If he is doing such a bad job managing Maine's money, and he is, I do not understand why Mainer's are not demanding that he gets the heck out, too. And it is not because Maine is a liberal state, either. California is supposedly a liberal state but yet they kicked the most liberal Gov. since Jerry Brown out. Taxes in Maine are high because Mainers allow them to be high
Degrade mine all that you want, but keep in mind that it will be a tough battle for you or anyone else since I hold both conservative and liberal viewpoints but I subscribe to neither party.
I said two things that are true; conservatives who hang onto every word of certain radio personalities do have this notion that liberals like to pay taxes, and, that liberals do not like taxes anymore than anybody else. But my view point doesn't matter anyways because both sides blame the other while not taking on any responsibility for themselves, and the majority of the people are never going to realize that.
Anyways, taxes in Maine are high because Maine is a good sized state with a lot of natural resources that need to be managed and a relatively small population. Yeah, maybe if you live in a rural part of the state your taxes are low, but if you live in Southern Maine you get taxed on (what seems) everything. In a way this seems logical since Southern Maine is where the bulk of the money is.
Do you know how Gov. Scharwzenegger got into office? Well, I'll tell you. California was going through an energy crisis during the 90's and then Gov. Grey Davis was doing a p*ss poor job of handling it. So you know what happened? Californians DEMANDED that he be removed from office and he got the heck out before a lynch mob came after him. I know that a good amount of you like to bad mouth the Baldalcci administration, and I do not blame you for the most part because the guy seems to be on Mars half the time, but the guy has been elected what, three times? If he is doing such a bad job managing Maine's money, and he is, I do not understand why Mainer's are not demanding that he gets the heck out, too. And it is not because Maine is a liberal state, either. California is supposedly a liberal state but yet they kicked the most liberal Gov. since Jerry Brown out. Taxes in Maine are high because Mainers allow them to be high
A lot of rambling there, but also some nuggets of truth...
Without getting into CA--I grew up there--I'll just say that taxes stay high in liberal areas because liberals outnumber wiser folks. Liberals have along history of not demanding anything from their leaders other than statist orthodoxy from their government. Only liberals would allow a killer who leave a woman dead in their car while driving drunk, or a former KKK leader to represent them for decades, while at the same time calling conservatives racist or uncaring.
They carry this same approach to taxes; they will hoard and pursue huge personal wealth, and call for others to pay more while they take advantage of any deduction they can access.
That being said, Maine is beautiful and well worth living in
On a more practical basis -- we've become very interested in living in the southernmost coastal area of Maine and wonder if it would make sense to be only a couple of minutes (literally) from New Hampshire and have to pay the state income tax. We're going to rent for at least the first year and perhaps as long as four years. The conventional wisdom right now is that you shouldn't buy into a mortgage unless you know you're going to stay 5-7 years. We don't know that, yet, so were definitely not buying until we settle in to the area and know exactly where we want to be. So we'll have no tax benefit from a mortgage any more. The 8.5% income tax rate is not insignificant...yet southern Maine (York, Kittery, etc.) is more appealing to us than New Hampshire. There is obviously a lot more to a decent cost-benefit analysis....but we can't find the factors. If the tax issue was that big a deal, then no-one would live in Maine just 5 minutes away from New Hamspire would they?
... If the tax issue was that big a deal, then no-one would live in Maine just 5 minutes away from New Hamspire would they?
I have friends who live in Portland. The idea of border hopping is very tempting for them. On one side you get this, on the other side you get that; all based on where the best deal is.
Properties in Maine that have higher property taxes, are due to the individual town and what services they provide. Property taxes in Maine are not high across the board, rather they might be high based on what town your in. So I really do not see high property taxes as a state of Maine issue.
When coming to Maine, choose very carefully which town you move to, and it will determine your outlook on Maine's taxes for the rest of your life.
How you file your income taxes is very individualized. What your gross income is, and your indivdiual tax-plan is, can vary a great deal from person to person. When you finally come down to your AGI it varies in each state as to how each state sets it's brackets and how it taxes each bracket.
We have pension income, rental income, farm income, and a regular salary coming into our home; for us, in our situation the income taxes in Maine are very low.
As folks here do tend to point out, my situation is not the norm. Few households in Maine seem to have as many varied income streams as we do.
Just taking a break right now while planting fruits trees, so this will be quick.
Without siting the numbers; I found that my township's mil rate is one level, while the next town to our West is within 0.1% of double our mil rate, and the town to our South is triple our mil rate.
If your assessment were the same in each township, your taxes could than go from $100 in our town, to $200 to the West or $300 to the South.
Towns have expenses. It is hard to keep those expenses down. Stepping over a town line can have massive differences in mil rates.
[Mil Rate is a number that you multiply against your assessed value to determine your annual taxes.]
Now obviously [and as others will chirp in to add] as your mil rates go up, you also tend to get more municipal services provided for you by your town. More Police men, more Firemen, newer schools, maybe more snow plows.
So there are benefits to having higher taxes [ie, more municipal services provided].
Gotta go, I caught my breath now and must return to planting trees.
Thanks for writing while you caught your breath. We have an equalized assessed
value (EAV) formula that varies widely from one area to the next in Chicagoland as well. A house that is valued at half as much as one ten miles away can have the same property tax in dollars. We did that just three years ago - moved from one to the other. We bought a house that cost twice as much a few towns over, and paid nearly the same annual property tax -- plus got a much better school district with smaller class sizes.
This makes me glad to be renting initially -- I don't have the time nor the relocation budget to figure all of this out from here. Once we're living in Maine we can explore the entire area and do our homework. Or with some luck, just buy where we've landed. Sometimes destiny comes into play.
Good luck with those fruit trees! We've got some nice pear and apple trees in our back yard now. Hope we get to make a nice pear tart or two before we move.
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Well, that explains one possibility! Thanks.
