I’ve seen the name “Taxachusetts” tossed around for quite some time, particularly in some corners of the internet. I moved to Boston last year, and now I’m wondering what possibly could prompt anyone to come up with that name. From my perspective, the taxes here are pretty much in line with the other states I’ve lived in (Michigan and Ohio). Now, that perspective is as a young, single renter with a steady job, so I’m curious if the taxes for property owners or businesses are onerous enough for some to use that epithet. Maybe things have changed in recent history?
Admittedly, the MA state tax return I filed was a hell of a lot more difficult to fill out than any other state or federal return I’ve dealt with, but most of the difficulty seemed to come from bad form design and lots of arcane credits and deductions.
My understanding was that that nickname came from the late 70’s and 80’s whan the taxes were significantly higher than other states (or at least it was percieved to be).
Because it has a reputation as a liberal state, and “everyone knows” that liberals are crazed tax raisers. I doubt that most of the people using a word like “Taxachusetts” even know the actual tax rate, or care for that matter; they’d likely claim it had high taxes regardless of the truth.
It got the nickname back in the early 80s, when it had hgh tax rates (it was had the second highest tax rate in 1980, the 3rd highest in 1981). Things have changed since then, and the current tax burden is in the middle of the states (at 23rd), but the nickname persists.
Wow. Both [li] and using random posts for your ploitical bludgeons![/li]
*Word deleted because it might have brought a mod down on me. Suffice it to say it started with “ign” and ended with “ant”
I’m looking at a chart here from 1977 to 2008. At the highest, state and local taxes were 11.5% in 1978. They had the highest rank in 1980, where they had the second largest tax burden of any state, at 10.7%. (The state with the highest tax burden in 2008 was New Jersey, with state and local tax rates at 11.8% of income. The state with the lowest is Alaska, at 6.4%. All information in this post comes from the Tax Foundation.
Plus they had high taxes for non-residents who worked there (as I did). In the mid-80’s to mid-90s, I remember seeing cars driving south in I-95 with signs in the windows that said “Goodbye, Taxachusetts!”
Don’t play games. If you think a word is inappropriate, then don’t pretend you’re not using it while making it obvious what it is. I’m not issuing a warning, but let’s not do this again.
I live in Massachusetts and it depends on what your lifestyle is. Commuting via the Massachusetts Turnpike from the western suburbs can be extremely costly. We have routinely paid over $600 a month just to use the Mass Turnpike that was paid for a long time ago. Property taxes are also very high and the regulations for your own property are strict especially when it comes to water and sewage issues so you need to have 50K or so in hand at all times to deal with those if a regulatory problem arises and it has happened with a couple of my neighbors. You also get random bills for things like excise taxes for vehicles that you own free and clear and may not even drive. I swear that I fully expect a bill to show up one day with the title of “Oxygen Use Charges”. It still deserves the title.