Tax Burden

[lildog]

On the Merrimack Forum an interesting discussion has spring up regarding the tax burden of each town in NH.

Unfortunately no one can agree as to what ?tax burden? actually means.  Is it the highest tax rate?  Is it the most in taxes per average income for that town?  Is it the most in taxes for homes of equal value?

So I thought I?d put the topic on here to see if anyone had any ideas on how to determine ?tax burden? and based on what definition we give for it which town?s have the highest in the state.

[AlanM]

On the Merrimack Forum an interesting discussion has spring up regarding the tax burden of each town in NH.

Unfortunately no one can agree as to what ?tax burden? actually means.? Is it the highest tax rate?? Is it the most in taxes per average income for that town?? Is it the most in taxes for homes of equal value?

So I thought I?d put the topic on here to see if anyone had any ideas on how to determine ?tax burden? and based on what definition we give for it which town?s have the highest in the state.

Two homes of similar age and size and condition, one in the Seacoast, one in say, Whitefield NH. Same acreage, neither has a magnificent view, or water frontage. The home in the Seacoast will have a much higher value, so the taxes paid will be much higher on the Seacoast home, even though Whitefield's tax rate is similar to say, Exeter's. Seacoast homes are at least twice as costly as the ones in Whitefield. Average income in Exeter is most likely much higher than in Whitefield. Is it "fair" that Seacost homes pay more in total taxes? Is it "fair" that average income in Exeter is higher than in Whitefield?

There is no such thing, IMHO, as a "fair tax". Taxes are never fair. Taxes are theft.

[lildog]

We aren't questioning what is "fair"... the question is how to determin which town has the highest tax burden.

Here's a chart that was posted during the discussion.

http://www.nh.gov/revenue/property_tax/equalization/2004/comprat_values_only_rank_order.xls

[cathleeninnh]

I have been looking at these factors myself. I don't think just ranking the full value tax rate is enough. It can get awfully complicated, though. One way that I am looking at it is to take the town budget (multiplying it by the residential tax base percentage) and dividing by the number of households. This isn't really an average home tax bill as you might think at first, but a spreading of the cost of town operations across the households. That sounds more like a tax burden to me. One problem is the services that are provided and (I assume) billed between neighboring towns for school, fire, and police. It would take a lot of detailed information to adjust for that. I am also comparing the data available today with what I pulled two years ago. Guess what? Taxes are going up.

Basically, I don't know how to measure tax burden.

Cathleen