In cleaning out my files I ran across a letter that, I believe, is several years old.
It was from a Monitor reader in Loudon arguing that New Hampshire’s tax structure doesn’t need reform.
The writer cites a $250,000 house for sale in York, Maine, whose property tax is $2,000. He asserts that is not a low property tax and that Maine’s sales and income taxes don’t hold down property taxes.
I checked my 2016 Concord property tax bill and that same house would be taxed $6,835 in Concord – 3.4 times the York tax.
For a retired couple living on $40,000 per year, the York tax would be 5 percent of their gross income; the Concord tax would be 17.08 percent of their income.
The difference of $4,835 would pay for the heat, utilities and insurance on their house for a year, with enough left over for an occasional pizza.
JOHN ANDREWS
Concord