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Considering a move to Maine.

roccoracer

roccoracer

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My wife and I are putting some serious thought into moving to Maine. I want out of Massachusetts for good.
Please share any thoughts or opinions on living in Maine. We are looking in the York area spending 300k max. There are a lot of choices and the taxes seem lower than where I am now.
I am open to other areas as well. We just want to be close to the ocean (1 hour or less) and have some amenities in the town we choose but also have privacy.
Thank you for your help.

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I lived in Kittery, and Kittery Point, Maine for more than 10 years. Are you retired? Like many other places, the taxes you pay will depend greatly on your location and income. I can tell you this: you will not find "privacy" on the coast line from Kittery to Wells in the summer, so, you will need to live inside Maine. Maine is about as economically depressed as anyplace; forestry, fishing, farming and factories are destroyed as industries so the loss revenue is made up via income (graduated) tax, sales tax, excise tax, property tax, real estate tax, etc. Think carefully if it's a decision based on $$$.

The ONLY advantage Maine had over MA was its firearms, and knives, laws. Make no mistake though; as Boston expands and more folks move to Maine it will more and more quickly resemble the place the migrants fled. Same with NH.

Welcome to Maine: The Way Life Should Be <--- HA HA HA.
 
Been looking to get out of MA also.
All the places I have thought about going to do not have a lot of employment with out a long commute. The cost of living in ME does not seem to be any less than here in MA?
 
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i moved to york a few months back. i love it so far. this particular town is very crowded in the summer. (m*******s on vacation, lol). i am a stone's throw from the kittery line. you can find houses with privacy but anything under 400k is going to be a fixer upper. west of 95 is much more open than the space between 95 and the coastline. we looked in eliot before finding a place in york but property taxes in eliot were kind of high. york taxes are low but it's because of "tourist town" and the bs that goes with tourists flooding the place. berwick is definitely cheaper than york and maybe worth checking out. york has great schools and a great parks and rec department if you have kids.
i love that portsmouth and newington n.h. are less than 10 minutes away for tax free shopping but getting over the piscataqua bridge on weekends is a pain in the ass.
i'm free and loving it. you will too no matter where you end up.
 
lancecolonel said:
...i love that portsmouth and newington n.h. are less than 10 minutes away for tax free shopping but getting over the piscataqua bridge on weekends is a pain in the ass...
Click to expand...


Not to worry: when you file your income tax forms in ME, you will be expected to pony up the sales tax money you did not pay. It's called a "use tax". I knew folks who
thought they would get away with saying "no". Ha ha ha.

Welcome to Maine. It's the way life should be.
https://www1.maine.gov/revenue/salesuse/usetax.pdf
 
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Green_Manelishi said:
The ONLY advantage Maine had over MA was its firearms, and knives, laws. Make no mistake though; as Boston expands and more folks move to Maine it will more and more quickly resemble the place the migrants fled. Same with NH.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that anymore. Consider that:

1. Maine and NH both just passed constitutional carry within the last couple of years
2. Maine now has the one and only Republican U.S. House member and one and only Republican U.S. Senator in all of New England (though I'm well aware that Susan Collins is a total RINO)

and

3. Maine is the FIRST (and only - thus far) state to reject a Bloomtard - funded UBC state-wide ballot initiative.

That said, Maine gun owners must remain forever vigilant!
 
Green_Manelishi said:
Not to worry: when you file your income tax forms in ME, you will be expected to pony up the sales tax money you did not pay. It's called a "use tax". I knew folks who
thought they would get away with saying "no". Ha ha ha.

Welcome to Maine. It's the way life should be.
https://www1.maine.gov/revenue/salesuse/usetax.pdf
Click to expand...

I know plenty of people who never file those in ME. We have something similar here in MA, I wish the revenue departments in any states that have those luck in collecting in any sort of efficient way, LOL
 
Been here two years now as an expat from MA. Not planning on leaving, but also concerned about influx of MATARD policies.

I believe panacea is still to be had here.

I believe that could go away or become immutable in the next 5 years. Only dillegance and time will tell.

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Gah. Wasn't done. Short bit. Incomtax sucks. Taxes slightly suck. Doing your rmv like paperwork in a town hall with real humans is a breath of fresh air.

I work in Portland and live in a town near by. Signs of MA policies are abound in the surrounding towns, but completely blocked in others.

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Depending on how large of a place you're looking for you may be able to find something in York/Cape Neddick or Wells. For better value look into Eliot,The Berwicks(North,South, and Berwick) or Arundel. Personal opinion... don't bother with Sanford.
 
Maine is really nice and its mostly wilderness, which is a plus for me. My house budget is $100k or under, so up there I'm looking at really rural places that are either raw land or the saddest, most bleak looking houses you've ever seen. Not sure I feel like redoing a place that was built in the 1890s and updated in the early 60's and had had multiple generations croak in the bedrooms or something. I'd rather buy raw land and make a living growing blueberries, potatoes and christmas trees and selling random shit on Ebay.
 
Maine Use Tax: I've lived here all my life so far. 50 years. Never filed a dime.

York is a pretty beach town, no doubt. I couldn't live down there though. Way too busy.
 
My father in law owns a summer home right on the rocky shore in York Beach. It's quite a house. Haven't been there in a few years but it's the kind of place where you immediately forget about all the bullshit of the daily grind and just relax.

I'm a life-long Cape Codder and while I hate much about MA, I will remain here for most likely the rest of my days.
 
If you’re someone who thinks the government should take an active role in shaping society, then you’ll probably agree that a state income tax is a good thing. It allows the state to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, and policymakers can use state tax incentives to encourage people to give to charities, buy solar panels or promote other initiatives.
If you think the government should stay out of the society-shaping business, then you might very well be comfortable living in one of America’s nine no-income-tax states.

If you don’t want the state to redistribute income, then you’re probably happy that it doesn’t have an income tax.

N.H is one of those few states . Maine will bill you more to reside there.
 
Bought property 22 years ago planning on retirement up here on the water and the taxes got stupid $$$$. Sold it and built a custom home 10 years ago off the water but close to it with private beach rights and mooring area plus a marina all within 1/2 a mile. Taxes dropped like a stone because we have only a town hall open 3 hours on Thursday and Friday. All services are contracted. Best thing I ever did.

According to Down East magazine years ago everything south of Augusta is northern Massachusetts. I'd push the line a bit more south but southern Maine is not for me. The summer and holiday weekend traffic is horrible below Portland.

As for the use tax... Ya right.
 
W.E.C said:
If you’re someone who thinks the government should take an active role in shaping society, then you’ll probably agree that a state income tax is a good thing. It allows the state to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, and policymakers can use state tax incentives to encourage people to give to charities, buy solar panels or promote other initiatives.
If you think the government should stay out of the society-shaping business, then you might very well be comfortable living in one of America’s nine no-income-tax states.

If you don’t want the state to redistribute income, then you’re probably happy that it doesn’t have an income tax.

N.H is one of those few states . Maine will bill you more to reside there.
Click to expand...

Problem is that it costs XX dollars to run a state or town. They are going to get that money one way or another. There's no free ride. However giving your earned dollars away to lazy MFer's is a different story. Sadly we can find these people in all 50 states.
 
Consider New Hampshire - No Income Tax

Please consider New Hampshire. If you looked North and West of Portsmouth for your home you could be within a short drive to Kittery, the Yorks, Ogunquit, etc. but you would not have to pay any income tax. We were considering Maine but decided on New Hampshire for many reasons but one of the prime ones was the lack of an income tax.

Also, as has been noted, coastal Maine is very crowded in the summer, the same is true for the seventeen miles of NH seacoast. So you would be better off looking back from the coast - ten, maybe twenty miles North or West.

Don't get me wrong, my family loves Maine and we vacation in Ogunquit and Boothbay every year and have done so for decades. But for a domicile just stay 'over the line' in New Hampshire, you have everything Maine has to offer but you get to keep more of your money since there is no income tax.
 
I figured it was only a matter of time before one of the NH "I don't pay any taxes" Liberty boys chimed in.
My total tax bill is not the predominate reason I would move to another state. Texas and Florida have no income tax either, but there is no way in hell I'd live in either one of those shit-holes.
I know a lot of good people in NH, but it lacks one big thing: elbow room.

You don't come to Maine for a job, you come to Maine for a life.


And, "within one hour of the ocean" encompasses a huge area. Are you retiring or still working in Mass? How close to Kittery or Boston do you need to be?
 
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I grew up in Maine. Great state. Plenty of depressed areas. NH elbow room? Plenty. The paper companies own most of Maine so it's not like you'll be partying in the great north woods. Maine is a great state though. So is NH. Kind of splitting hairs when choosing.
 
Something else to add.. I was spending $1200/month on groceries in MA near cape cod. We had to throw away around 1/4 of the chicken we ever bought from the stores around there. Veggies were always stale. Fruits went bad in days.

Up here, even in Portland, the same shopping list is easily $600/mo and everything's fresh. The beef in get from the local hannaford is near epic quality compared to what I woukdnhave to spend hours extorting from distant remote butchers in MA.

Though Epping NH does look interesting if we stay in the region long term.

Being able to spent $4 for two 2 .lb packs of fresh strawberries. And then go pick fresh blueberries with your kid the next weekend at a family farm.. 12 minutes away...

Those are worth something.

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I know this is an old thread, but wanted to chime in. I just moved to Maine from Mass. I was able to find a decent job in my industry pretty easily to be honest. Even with the taxes my total cost of living up here is WAY less than Mass. I live in a town close to Portland as well.
 

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