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[LL1207]

Can someone please clarify your states property tax rate?  For example if I purchase a 500,000$,  what can I expect my average (I know it varies from county to county) monthly tax burden to be?  Say it was a 200k home but on 10+ acres?  Just wondering if the property tax completely off sets the income and sales tax savings.

Thank you

[Liberty603]

Both property valuations and tax rates do vary widely from town to town, but as a rough estimate, tax rates seem to average $20 per $1000 of total value. So a $500K property (including home and land) would be about $10K/yr in taxes. Also, property values vary widely as well - i.e. a similar home on 10 acres may cost (and be valued at) $500K in southern NH but only $350K in northern NH.

Just wondering if the property tax completely off sets the income and sales tax savings.

In general, New Hampshire's state and local tax burden is consistently among the nation's lowest.

[freedomroad]

Welcome to the forum.  As you can guess, the subject has come up over and over again for years.  I did a forum search and came up with some info that should be helpful to you.

The rate depends on the area.  Areas in NH vary from zero property taxes to 38 per 1000 or so.  In the towns, much of the spending is decided by the voters.  After the voters decide on the spending and other spending is figured in, than the tax rate is figured.  Some people in NH want low property taxes, while some people in NH want high property taxes.  The rates vary greatly from town to town and reflect the will of the voters.

Here is a limited version of property tax info, http://www.nh.gov/revenue/munc_prop/2010PropertyTaxRatesRelatedData.htm

According to this story, NH has the 2nd lowest overall taxes as a percentage of income, http://www.walletpop.com/photos/lowest-state-taxes/

Check out this very recent thread from April 2011, http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=23518.0

Here is a thread about this from Sep 2010 http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=21634.0

Here is a really nice thread from March 2007 http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=13398.0

Here is a thread from 2009 of someone lying by saying that taxes aren't low in NH, http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=17310.0

There is also this interesting thread on the NHLA forum about places in NH with very low property tax rates and how to lower your property taxes, http://forum.nhliberty.org/index.php?topic=3378.0

[Trenks]

You can always live on a house boat or boondocks an RV

[John Edward Mercier]

On a house boat... you'll need septic supplied at the dock (which gets taxed as property).
With the RV, you'll need to own or rent the land... which will include the property tax.

[MaineShark]

You can always live on a house boat or boondocks an RV

I know someone who does that on Winnipesaukee.  His boat (which is very nice) cost less than a camp in the area, is closer to the water, and his docking fee is less than he would pay in property taxes on a camp.

Joe

[Trenks]

You can always live on a house boat or boondocks an RV

I know someone who does that on Winnipesaukee.  His boat (which is very nice) cost less than a camp in the area, is closer to the water, and his docking fee is less than he would pay in property taxes on a camp.

Joe

I figured there was someone doing it. He's not paying property tax. The money he pays for the docking fee may indeed be used to pay property tax but he isn't paying it the owner of the docking fee pays it. I could buy something from one of these agorist vendors and if they live on land and use the money to pay their property tax bill, am I paying property tax? One can avoid paying property tax on water or with the RV but I would agree that no one who participates in the wider economy in any way whatsoever, can avoid the added cost of living that property tax creates.

Even if you live on the sea with a house boat and you buy vegetables from some Voluntaryist, you are affected by the property tax, assuming the Voluntaryist pays it for the land to grow the vegetables.

Unless you jump from one house or piece of land to another every two years as the state confiscates your property for non payment. But you couldn't get a loan to buy the next piece because of your history of 'default'. And if you used cash to buy the properties it would cost a hell of a lot more than if you were to comply with the property tax.

The other way is if you claim a piece of state or federal land and try to live as discreetly as possible. Or if thousands of people claim the land and stand up to the state! 

Or a downtown business district all stand together in non payment.

Otherwise I do think you can avoid direct payment with the house boat or RV. You can get water from rivers using a filter and small pump and you can discharge grey and black water onto select pieces of state land as you move along and rely on natural attenuation. Obviously the guys that live on the sea have another strategy.

Did you guys see that Stossel show about the guy who is raising money to build a city on the sea?

[John Edward Mercier]

If your house boat is in the water, it will need to be registered with the State.
Though its referenced as 'common property', its never managed in that fashion.
 

[LoveFreedomAndLiberty]

Does NH have any:

Homestead Exemption?

Cap on property taxes?

[John Edward Mercier]

The State itself... no.

[MaineShark]

Homestead Exemption?

Not for tax purposes.  http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/xlix/480/480-mrg.htm

Cap on property taxes?

There are a variety of ways that property taxes are limited or capped.  What, in particular, are you looking for?

Joe

[LoveFreedomAndLiberty]

It would just be nice to know, wherever I bought or built, that the property tax would not go so high, over time, that I would have to sell and move because the property taxes got so high they were out of my budget.

I like the idea of being property tax exempt up to a certain value.

[MaineShark]

It would just be nice to know, wherever I bought or built, that the property tax would not go so high, over time, that I would have to sell and move because the property taxes got so high they were out of my budget.

That would, indeed, by nice to know.

But there's no way to guarantee it.  Even if that were the law, the legislature could always change the law in the future.

No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

No law can ever guarantee you anything.  The closest thing possible to a guarantee is a paradigm shift in the society such that the behavior in question (eg, taxing property) is not favored by any large percentage of the population.  That's why you will often hear folks say that libertarianism is not merely a political philosophy, but an overall philosophy of human organization, which happens to have (as a small subset) political implications.  Any political victory, now, can be undone tomorrow.  Only by changing the way folks think about how they interact, can these victories become relatively solid.

Joe

[LoveFreedomAndLiberty]

It would just be nice to know, wherever I bought or built, that the property tax would not go so high, over time, that I would have to sell and move because the property taxes got so high they were out of my budget.

That would, indeed, by nice to know.

But there's no way to guarantee it.  Even if that were the law, the legislature could always change the law in the future.

No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

No law can ever guarantee you anything. 

Joe

Agree. 

Since law is all we have for now, I would like homestead exemption at a minimum, or at least a cap that it can not go above a certain amount. 

I don't want property tax at all in my perfect world.

It's a good thing I was sitting when some people told me what they pay in property tax.

[MaineShark]

Agree. 

Since law is all we have for now, I would like homestead exemption at a minimum, or at least a cap that it can not go above a certain amount.

They're not going to give you either.  Especially these days, when inflation is increasing so rapidly.  The exemption would soon be meaningless, as "$100k" would be a trivial amount of money.  And there's no way they would create a fixed cap, as they know that inflation will push them beyond that too quickly.

I don't want property tax at all in my perfect world.

It's a good thing I was sitting when some people told me what they pay in property tax.

Less than what folks pay in taxes, other places.  It's just all in one bill, not spread out where its invisible.  The fact that NH residents see it twice a year goes a long way to keeping spending down, relative to other places.

Joe