MA gave back way more. Much better incentives. But it was a higher cost of living.

Maine has more freedoms then the Live Free or Die state. Remind them of that one.

💯

NH property taxes are 3x Maine’s. Not sure where he gets his info

They are one of the northeastern states that are friendly to military retirement though. They don't tax military retirements at all.

Absolutely. I get a lot of value for my tax dollars. I like safe infrastructure. I like having well maintained parks, traffic lights, good schools, safe cars, safe school busses, public transportation options, libraries and well paid government employees who serve the community. Those things aren’t free, but it’s the price I pay for the standard of living that I want. And that standard of living, when supported by tax dollars, is maintained community-wide, which reduces such problems as poverty, which in turn reduces crime. It’s a pretty good deal.

People who grumble about high property taxes in good school systems also don’t seem to appreciate how much funding that school system increases their property values. Maybe they don’t have school age kids, so they think they’re not receiving any benefit, but if you dug up their house and planted it two towns over where they would pay lower taxes, their house is now worth $100k, $200k, maybe $1m less, just to save like $1k a year.

And don’t even get me started on the Live Free or Die/rugged individualist people who imagine themselves as some kind of cowboy living in the wild Wild West as they drive on roads funded by taxpayer dollars, eat meat inspected by safety inspectors, live and work in buildings and drive cars that comply with safety codes - every single thing they can do safely throughout their day is thanks to some kind of government regulation. Most of those people have never traveled to other countries that lack our kind of standards, maybe they’d appreciate what they have.

That said, I don’t think they are the majority or even close. I think most people like a government that guarantees a certain standard of living, infrastructure and safety for its citizens. The “Live Free” people who want to dismantle it are outliers and the government officials who actually vote to dismantle it do so only because they are bought and paid for by big business.

Nah it's not bad. I started here, I've lived all over and came back. Unless they're just talking sales tax that they don't pay down there

I’ve never been an angry shake-my-fist kind of idiot when it came to taxes. I live in a society and societies aren’t free. We all want to go tax-free and lean into subsistence’s homesteading? Great — until we’re invaded and are subject to authoritarian rule and now we have no dollars. Lol. Not a single American doesn’t benefit from tax-funded infrastructure, education and defense.

I just wish we’d better address the wasteful spending and maximize the punch my tax dollars make. There’s plenty of arguments that are legitimate when it comes to the bullshit that our money goes to.

Lots of people in this sub aren't familiar with life here 20 minutes inland.

Our home in Florida has regular homeowners insurance, hurricane insurance, flood insurance, sink hole insurance (which I admittedly didn't renew this year), and a million dollar termite bond for formosan termites only. That's the most common type of termite in our area. If we were in northeastern, central or southern florida we would have to have other types of termite bonding. There are 3-4 types of termites in those areas that are prevalent.

Our regular homeowners with hurricane was $1400 when we first moved and now it's ~$3,000, I think closer to $3400 but I would have to double check. That doesn't include the flood, sink hole, or termite. We aren't in a flood zone but it has gone from $400 a year to $575 since it's based on housing value. Our termite is just under $400 a year, which we get a couple discounts on to get it to that number. Sinkhole used to be $400 per year and now is $500 but I didn't renew that this year due to sink holes not being prevalent in our area.

Our house is also now over 6 years old. I'm fully expecting a letter about them not covering our roof fully if there is damage going forward. Many companies have gone to a percentage of the roof based on age. We have a florida only insurance. USAA was 3x more expensive when we initially looked into insurances. Most of the nationwide insurances are much more expensive as well.

I can't wait to get out of this state. It's so expensive, there are no good services in our area, our tax dollars don't go far here due to extreme corruption, they cater to tourists mostly, and it's hot as hell.

Edit: our home is a 4/2/2, 2098 sqft that we bought for $252,700 in 2016. Our same house layout on a 1/10 of an acre, sold for $500k recently. It's absurd.

They are high for the standard of living here.

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This seems pretty on point. I have a friend who is in finance and did the math when they were moving from West Hartford CT to a cheap part of New Hampshire. There was only an $8,000 a year difference. They still wanted to live on west Hartford but their spouse wanted to live on NH. If they had moved to a more expensive part of NH, it probably would have been about the same. They had a lot less services where they moved in NH and NH likes to fee you to death.

Edit: it's like florida. We pay more to live in florida than we did to live in Fairfield county part of CT. Florida will fee you to death, property taxes go up every year because they add assessments last minute, then you have all the different insurances needed to have a house. It's crazy how much insurance and the types of insurances required.

Maine has one of the highest tax burdens in the country. NH is towards the bottom in total tax burden.

I agree people always make a deal about the state tax but that state will get its money somehow. Certain houses in certain counties in New Hampshire was ridiculous when I was looking to buy there .

A 350 k house with 12 k yearly tax bill which would mean you could pay the house off and still owe 1000 bucks a month .

But hey no sales tax …

Maine's Beer & Weed Magazine had a cover story and interview with Papi about this in their February issue.

> I’m getting a lot of value for that tax money.

Yeah, this is something that people should be paying more attention to. It's not just about how much you're paying but whether the value you get out is worth what you're putting in.

Americans like to pretend we're all rugged individualists, but very few of us are actually living that kind of life. Not even the "Live Free or Die" guys mocking OP.

Laughs in NJ.

Taxes are one of those things that really depends on your ROI. Also people will complain no matter what. $.01 to some some is egregious. But then turn around and expect top services from their government. The issue ME is having is a diminishing tax base. But coming from NJ, ME’s taxes are a shoulder shrug.

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Adding to Florida, a friend with a ~$280k home is paying $4000 for homeowners insurance alone. Flood is additional.

I think a similar home in Maine is $900-1200/year.

> Most countries with universal healthcare are not paying 45-50%, that is really only a few countries

Finland
Japan
Austria
Denmark
Sweden
Belgium
Israel
Netherlands
Portugal
Ireland
Spain
Germany
UK
France
Australia
Greece (44%)
Italy (43%)…

I posted the link. I’m not sure what more I can do.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/highest-taxed-countries

You keep typing words back at me. Why won’t you back up your claim? Post info on how the US spends more when you take into account all taxes.

Most countries with universal healthcare are not paying 45-50%, that is really only a few countries that also have huge safety nets and public services well beyond healthcare (not to mention the Americans spend more on healthcare costs than other country on earth). If you want to show the math state by state and country by country, you better sit down and pay some tuition. When you are paying 6-15 GRAND in healthcare premiums each year, you better believe no one in other countries have this burden. No one moves to the USA to escape taxes or reduce their tax burden, it just doesn't happen. Personally speaking, I have lived in about a half dozen other countries (although I am one person, and this is purely anecdotal), the USA is one of the highest burdens with regards to taxes and income reduction I have encountered. This nonsensical American exceptionalism, where we can't compare it to any other country, because "apples and oranges" is a defeatist attitude, and a flight from the reality on the ground.

> Except I didn't say "in line", I said above and beyond.

I’d like to see the math that says when you add all of it up, the US is paying more.

I keep seeing that many other countries have universal healthcare and the US has to pay so “the US pays more for healthcare” but that ignores that they also pay 45-50% tax and VAT.

So if you’re going to claim the US is more expensive, compare apples:apples and show the math.

stealing this one, cheers

Except I didn't say "in line", I said above and beyond. Also even without healthcare, many states with sales and income tax are more than many countries. It's the states with no sales tax or income tax that bring the average down in the USA, as this does not consider property tax, fees for services, and other forms of taxation not normally calculated in international stats. One of the issues with a such a huge country with many levels of govt, it's hard to see the price you pay on the ground as a regular person.