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9th April 2007

Taxachusetts no more?

Posted by Margaret on April 9, 2007
posted in In the News, Money Matters |

It’s funny, I’ve been thinking about the “Taxachusetts” label, especially after a reader used it in a comment (see “Stand gets a plug” below).  I heard that a lot as a kid, and when I was a teenager, my Libertarian parents left the state to escape taxes and liberal politics, relocating to Maine. In the Boston Globe on Friday, I read that for the second year in a row Massachusetts is ranked 28th in the nation in terms of local and state taxes as a percent of income. In New England, the tax burden is higher in every state except, predictably, New Hampshire. Ironically, Maine’s tax burden is among the highest in the nation, at 14%. Massachusetts, largely because of its flat income tax, comes in at 10.6%, but it will always be Taxachusetts to some.  It’s interesting how the label outlives the stereotype.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 10:55 am and is filed under In the News, Money Matters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

There are currently 3 responses to “Taxachusetts no more?”

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  1. 1 On April 9th, 2007, 8th VT Volunteer said:

    I went to the tax foundation website and found something else
    interesting.

    When you add the Federal Tax Burden into the mix, Massachusetts
    is ranked 7th in the Nation with a tax burden of 34.4%

    http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/335.html

  2. 2 On April 9th, 2007, JOE BISHOP said:

    Unfortunately taxes are not just on the individual. For instance a customer often feels a corporate tax in the form of higher prices in consumer goods.

    Inflation? It is a hidden tax and is alive and well in Taxachusetts.

    What about cost of living? Do you really think that Massachusetts is less costly (rent, etc.) than say Arizona or Texas? (I would wager that Massachusetts is comparable to New York, and California in terms of these costs).

    How about tariffs? That is a tax.

    There is a mass exodus from this state as there rightfully should be. With a new liberal administration you can fully expect taxes to go up (your socialite in arms Therese Murray has essentially promised this).

    And what is interesting, if you open that PDF file, it states that local and state taxes have increased to their highest leve. Just because Massachusetts is in the “middle” does not make it any less heinous for the state and local governments to steal money that is not theirs.

    For a complete history of taxes read Charles Adams’ book “For Good and Evil: the Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization.”

  3. 3 On April 10th, 2007, Margaret said:

    Well, is the label Taxachusetts accurate or not, that was my question. Certainly if you add Federal taxes into the mix, a high income state like Mass moves closer to the top of the pile. I would question what we get for our federal money (wars and deficit spending)compared to the value of state and local taxes that can be spent locally.

    I’m not sure if ‘mass exodus’ is accurate. Our population is certainly not growing compared to other areas of the country, but it has remained relatively flat at about 6.4 million for the last few years (at least that’s what I found out with a quick look around; have you found otherwise?)

    I think you mean that Therese Murray is my socialist-in-arms, not socialite – I had a vision of she and I gadding about Beacon Hill in a limousine :)

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