We don’t need no education
We don’t need police patrols
No dark macadam on the highways
HEY! PEOPLE! LEAVE THAT TAX ALONE!
That’s the theme song of our good friends who want to get rid of our income tax — again. One might think it would only get the yahoos excited — but the frightening thing is how many people voted for this in 2002 – 45%. I think a lot of folks fantasize about having MA become New Hampshire-lite; and I like New Hampshire, but I wouldn’t trade our situation for theirs. We have arguably the best public schools in the country; low health uninsurance rate; it’s pretty safe; and so on and so forth. On balance, we get value for our tax dollar here.
Please share widely!
Thhey call it riding the gravy train.
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Better album
I’m going to cut you up in little pieces.
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Does it strike you as strange that the Romneys’ dog was named Seamus? Pretty counter-cultural, don’t you think?
It’s only 5 tracks – double album with a bunch of theatrical-musical pieces will undoubtedly have a couple chunks of weakness. The Wall still had a bigger lasting influence. The solo in comfortably numb? The transitions? Vera?
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Anyways do the math – you cross from northern MA, my neck of the woods, 5k rough figure avg property tax into southern NH, comparable in services and living standards, you’re paying a 10k rough figure avg property tax.
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To get rid of a 5.3% income tax – basically, unless you’re making 100k (*5.3% = 5300) you’re getting screwed.
Anyways do the math – you cross from northern MA, my neck of the woods, 5k rough figure avg property tax into southern NH, comparable in services and living standards, you’re paying a 10k rough figure avg property tax.
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The average property tax rate in NH is $14.30 per $1,000 while the average property tax rate in MA is around $10.00.
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For some of us it made perfect sense to move to NH. Taxes on my condo in Salem MA were around $2700, and the taxes on a house I just put an offer on in NH are $3400.
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However, I used to pay over $5K a year in income tax to Mass. For me, switching jobs and moving was a no-brainer. It was a savings of close to five grand.
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Your point does stand on NH border towns though. They do have extremely high property tax rates.
If you get a delete button on your comments, I want one too.
nt
such as reposting or deleting.
And were I king of the Soapblox, I’d have such a thing. But I don’t write the software. :4a7d3d609129a9296bf7ac0608c2097
The state can make up the lost revenue by promoting more casino gambling & lotteries! Its a win, win and a win!
I wonder if anybody ever considered amending the Massachusetts constitution to impose a graduated income tax. Funny that in this “liberal” state, the Federal government would seem to have a more progressive policy.
and has failed at the polls, IIRC.
Early 1990s I think. Got crushed something like 70-30 if I recall correctly.
IIRC, didn’t the measure lose by less than 10% (54/46)? In such a progressive state, that’s impressive.
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I’d vote for it, that’s for sure. It’d put HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars straight into my pocket, enough to purchase a second yacht tender (for the wife so she wouldn’t have to use mine.)
There was a time when the difference between New Hampshire and Massachusetts exhibited itself in basic infrastructure. Our neighbors (who moved) to the north had clearly better highways, and better maintenance thereof; better public facilities; a more efficient government (lean and for the most part effective). Yet their heads were up their ass politically.
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I see changes and things still don’t look great for Massachusetts. New Hampshire’s roads are still in good shape. Stuff gets plowed and properly maintained. Government still runs well. And there’s another thing: the politics are shifting into areas I had only dreamed of happening here. The most recent – New Hampshire’s “fuck you” to the Bush maladministration over the fed program to put the mark of the beast on our motor vehicle licenses. Massachusetts hasn’t done it and as far as I know there’s no plan in the works. Rather, it’s likely this will be brought in because cash is king.
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I love my state and its fine traditions, but I do see New Hampshire exhibiting some trends that make a move seem quite attractive (if it were not for the cold).
What is that they did right?
How is that New Hampshire maintains its roads?
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It has been a long time since I’ve ventured into New Hampshire, but the last time that I did, I was struck by the fact that there seemed to be an awful lot of toll roads up there, particularly roads leading to touristy areas that Massachusettsians might want to visit. We don’t go up there any more. We’d rather buy a plane ticket to Munich. As an addendum, the MA turnpike “authority” should charge tolls for going through the remnants of the Big Dig.
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A couple of other things about NH. If memory serves, they are not only the first in the US primary, they were alsos the first in the US state lottery. Money can be raised by means other than taxation.
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Also, if memory serves, NH has a relatively high property tax, relative to valuation. As an aside, some friends of ours moved from MA to TX (job related move) and to their chagrin, although TX has no state income tax, their property tax was much higher than it was in Massachusetts(!) irrespective of valuation.
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As a final point, actually a question. The NH state supreme court seems to have been nibbling ’round the edges, but it seems that the NH constitution requires the state to provide at least some minimal amount of public schooling. Not the towns, but the state. If that’s true, it seems to me that the state courts will eventually tell the state legislature that it has to provide for some mechanism for equalization of expenditures, which would probably require some form of broad-based tax.