Ice 1/31
 

Today’s view from Space appears to show a decent amount of ice on the Lake and practically nothing on Sebago....(not uncommon)

BT

I find the Sebago Lake phenomena fascinating


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

is something to do with that very unpopular Maine 5.5% sales tax, so all the ice come to NH, instead of Maine!

Like, why go to Maine, when NH has zero sales tax!

And NH is the 3rd highest in the nation in property taxes.
And the burden is unfairly distributed as well.
Someone needs to pay for the roads, schools, bridges.

https://www.nhbr.com/once-again-prop...-near-the-top/

As every NH home owner knows, our despised imaginary NH non-existent 5% sales tax is automatically built into our property tax, like an imaginary fourth bedroom that you don't actually have, but are assessed as if you did.

Plus your NH state and local property tax up to $10,000 is deductible off your federal taxable income. If you have too high an assessment then you should sell off your highly assessed house and go live in the three car garage! ..... :D

Therefore, if the State of Maine had no sales tax then beautiful, clean, clear Lake Sebago would now be totally iced over! .... :D

That $10,000 deduction is useless too because the standard deduction, especially filing jointly, way exceeds it. Only if you have a huge mortgage and pay tons of interest will that $10,000 deduction ever kick in. I think it might only apply to primary too, I forget, but it doesn't matter anyway.

If Maine had no sales tax, their property taxes would go up too. Someone needs to pay for the roads, snow removal, schools, trash, fire, police etc.

So what NH has the 3rd highest property tax rate. Spreading it out across other broad based taxes achieves what exactly?

NH is the 5th LOWEST total state tax burden out of 50. Do I care if the property taxes are 3rd highest? Nope!

If you want to pay more but in smaller increments, feel free to move into one of these "low property tax rate" states and enjoy paying all the other taxes that you don't in NH.

I agree that it's important to look at overall tax rate—I've a friend who keeps saying her move to Virginia brought lower taxes but doesn't understand that the income tax added more overall costs—BUT there's a major issue with NH basing the tax system on land because many families who have owned property for years are now getting priced out. Nobody should lose the family homestead because they can no longer afford the taxes.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

So what NH is on the low side of state tax. It is one of the highest for total tax in the country.

I really don’t care if you don’t care, many folks in NH do care. And I’m sure many folks on this forum care.

Live Free or Die (but pay that real estate tax bill before you go)