The Tax Man Cometh...

[HUH]

They were standing in the hall tue. night ..The selectman got an earfull.. Everyone has had it with the spending and subsequent tax increases..
New police station out for now
Library expansion off the table for now
School budget is getting some serious scrutiny as well as the merit and COL raises..
Yes the spending has been out of control and has to stop..

[PROPELLER]

Charlie, I do not live in Gilford but I also had similar increases in property taxes in another NH town an hour south of the lake. I am paying almost $5000. My parents live in a Mass town & they have had increases similar to yours. This issue is not limited to just Gilford or the lakes region or NH, its everywhere. You are not alone.

[DigitalJohn]

Well, all of us making over $200k(sic) got a real nice gift from Pres. Bush, so we have the money to pay for increased local taxes and more!

[GWC...]

Originally Posted by DigitalJohn

Well, all of us making over $200k(sic) got a real nice gift from Pres. Bush, so we have the money to pay for increased local taxes and more!

That was the reason for the refund - put the money back into the economy to jump-start it and hopefully keep it going.

P.S.- Thanks for the foodstamps. My tummy is happy, again.

[SAMIAM]

As a life long conservative.....I've now changed my tune. We need a sales tax........We have lost 3 retired homeowners on my road alone who could not afford the huge increases on waterfront property.Please keep in mind,these are not wealthy people,just ordinary folks that happened to buy on the lake many years ago.Oh,I know,their property has grown in value,but what good is that to them? They don't want to sell,just live their remaining years in the home the've lived in all of their lives.

[PROPELLER]

I do not think a sales tax or income tax is the answer. If there was a sales tax or income tax a municipality is not going to lower your assessment because the value of your home is not reduced magically because the state is now collecting an additional tax. Even if a municipality lowered the per thousand rate, what would it be maybe $2 per thousand? On a $600,000 home (what many lake front houses go for) thats $1200. So in Gilford where the rate is approximately $17 per thousand it would be reduced from $10,200 to $9,000. Is that going to make the difference whether someone stays or goes? I doubt it. $9,000 is still a large tax bill. And thats if a municipality decided to lower the rate. I doubt they would because when given money they will find another way to spend it.

What guarantee is there that the new tax whether it be sales or income tax is going to be distributed among the towns. A sales or income tax is collected by the state. No, I would not be so naive to believe that a sales or income tax will elleviate this problem. TAXES NEVER GO DOWN. And just remember once they get a sales or income tax, now you will be paying high property taxes & an additional tax or taxes (sales or income)

[phoenix]

still don't like paying for schools in amherst NH

[ITD]

Sorry people, the mentality that says a sales tax or income tax will solve the problem is the problem. If you think adding another "revenue source" will lower your property tax, I have a bridge you can buy, cheap.


Control the spending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PROPELLER]

To HuH, the only reason the rate went down in Gilford & any other municipality for that matter is because they increased assessments considerably. THATS THE ONLY REASON. If the assessment does not change the rate will creep back up again. Mark my words.

Listen to ITD, do not be duped!!

[fatlazyless]

Only NH & Alaska out of all the states have both no income or sales tax. Why is that? Alaska has a small population and a lot of oil wells, enough so that after a one year residency, Alaskans receive a reverse tax, the Alaskan oil dividend, paid by companies like ExxonMobilTexacoConocoBPShellArco through their property taxes.

What has NH got? NH has lots of waterfront and mountain vacation homes and that are close enough to Boston. These vacation homes 'get drilled' just like the Alaskan oil for taxes. The money comes in from "away" and if someone cannot afford the taxes and has to sell then 'so be it, it don't matter who owns it really.' For the NH voters it is 'better them than us' to be paying. Now, ain't that right?
Only now, with the rising assessments of year -round regular type homes plus with the new mandatory five year full-value assessments performed by a certified assessor, there is a new wrinkle. So, how do you all like this new wrinkle?

[HUH]

Originally Posted by PROPELLER

I do not think a sales tax or income tax is the answer. If there was a sales tax or income tax a municipality is not going to lower your assessment because the value of your home is not reduced magically because the state is now collecting an additional tax. Even if a municipality lowered the per thousand rate, what would it be maybe $2 per thousand? On a $600,000 home (what many lake front houses go for) thats $1200. So in Gilford where the rate is approximately $17 per thousand it would be reduced from $10,200 to $9,000. Is that going to make the difference whether someone stays or goes? I doubt it. $9,000 is still a large tax bill. And thats if a municipality decided to lower the rate. I doubt they would because when given money they will find another way to spend it.

What guarantee is there that the new tax whether it be sales or income tax is going to be distributed among the towns. A sales or income tax is collected by the state. No, I would not be so naive to believe that a sales or income tax will elleviate this problem. TAXES NEVER GO DOWN. And just remember once they get a sales or income tax, now you will be paying high property taxes & an additional tax or taxes (sales or income)

Actually the majority of your local taxes go twoards school funding due to a state mandate.. A sales tax could relieve this pressure substantialy.. And tax rates do go down ..the Gilford rate has dropped from 23 per K to 16.66 per K over the past 4 years..
Noone is arguing their assesed value ..its local spending in Gilfords case.. The cost of town employees and their insurance , merit raises, cost of living increases etc ..They keep proposing New police station , new Library, bigger school etc etc .. Well I think the spending spree is over.. Noone will vote to spend another nikel after getting the recent tax bill ...

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by HUH

And tax rates do go down ..the Gilford rate has dropped from 23 per K to 16.66 per K over the past 4 years..

I don't know what the case is in Gilford,but a tax rate going down usually doesn't mean anything.The question is has the total property tax your paying increased?I bet it has because of reasessment.ITD and Propellor are right on this one.SS

[ghfromaltonbay]

Don't believe it if you think these new taxes will be the answer. Here in NJ we have an income tax, 6% sales tax and were told that the gambling in Atlantic City would answer all our problems in subsidizing education and prescriptions for the elderly. Baloney!! My property taxes on a small 3 bedroom cape (1500 sq. ft) on a 47x100 foot lot have gone from $2400 per year (1990) to $5200 this year. The assessed value of my house is approx. $145,000 although in this crazy market I could probably get closer to $300K for it. I can't imagine what's going to happen if they do a reassessment which I don't believe is far off. They want to build 2 new schools in this city and I cringe at what that will do to our taxes. Adding new taxes won't help so don't believe that a sales or income tax will be the answer.

[HUH]

No new taxes are never the answer ..nor do they ever go away..
I find it most fo the people who dont want a sales tax in NH are from out of state ! Gee what a surprise ..

[phoenix]

still basic problem is the courts have ruled that all school districts must provide an addiquate level of education to all students in the state. the state approach is to tax donor towns( primarily towns with high valuation like lake towns) and give that money to so called poorer towns . unfortunately towns like Amherst are also getting that money . This is a state wide tax and pits one town against another. State needs to find a better way to raise this money whether by putting a sales tax or increasing some other revenue. Cutting education would cause the people who filed the lawsuit to go back to court . Bottom line is something must happen at the state level this year

[jonr]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

As a life long conservative.....I've now changed my tune. We need a sales tax........We have lost 3 retired homeowners on my road alone who could not afford the huge increases on waterfront property.Please keep in mind,these are not wealthy people,just ordinary folks that happened to buy on the lake many years ago.Oh,I know,their property has grown in value,but what good is that to them? They don't want to sell,just live their remaining years in the home the've lived in all of their lives.

What good is it to them? Well there are a number of ways to monitize the increase in your homes value. There are convential mortgages, home equity lines, and reverse mortgages (which require no payments during your lifetime).

If values increase then you have la lot of equity to tap to pay the increased tax. If your house increases by $1000 and you only need to monitize $10 to $20 to pay the taxes (depending upon the town).

But the assessments are only one issue. If everyone's assesment doubles and spending is the same then your taxes don't change. If some properties increase more or less than others that will shift the tax burden to the properties that increase more. If spending increases 20% then without additional revenue agregrate taxes need to increase 20%.

[fatlazyless]

Tomorrow June 22 2006, the State of NH represented by the NH Attorney General is scheduled to have its' appeal concerning the state wide local school property tax heard by the NH Supreme Court. Earlier this year in a lawsuit involving the Town of Londonderry and some other towns, a superior court agreed that the state wide local school property tax was unconstitutional. The State of NH's appeal of that decision starts tomorrow to be heard by the five Supreme Court justices.

Here's my question. Now, the Meredith property tax which includes a local municipal, local school and county tax is due on Monday July 3. What happens if I pay the local school tax on July 3 and then say three weeks later, this tax is decided to be unconstitional? Another question: what happens if I do not pay the local school tax and it is say three weeks later decided to be unconstitutional?
In my opinion, it seems to me that a past due local school tax that has been declared unconstitutional is no longer owed to the town. However, the interest on the amount not paid is due because the tax was legal at the time it was due. An unconstitutinal decision by the Supremes would would make collection unenforcable since it's an illegal tax even though it was legal at the time it was due.

How's that sound?

[phoenix]

i think you will need to pay and get a refund. I think from what i hear any chnage will be in the future and not retro so won't impact this year anyway