Want to buy A house?
If you’re lucky enough to have money burning a hole in your pocket, you can bid on the foreclosed Kona Mansion on Lake Winnepesaukee. Assessed at $6,131,700, you’ll get an eight-bedroom gambrel with chalets, cottages, sheds, a golf course and tennis courts. For you, the property taxes of $32,682 are a rounding error.
But maybe you’re looking for something more modest, like a three-bedroom foreclosed ranch in Salisbury. Bidding at its assessed value would set you back $376,100. And the property taxes are a mere $6,736, 21% of those for the mansion in Moultonborough.
But wait, if the property taxes are one-fifth of what they would be in Moultonborough, shouldn’t the value of the Salisbury home be $1.2 million, one-fifth of the mansion assessment? Sadly, no. These numbers illustrate exactly how some communities in New Hampshire struggle to fund their schools and local government, and how other communities don’t even have to break a sweat. It’s why the majority of New Hampshire residents should stop shuddering in fear when Republicans invoke the dreaded income tax. It’s why everyone needs to run their personal financial situation through the School Tax Calculator at nhtaxsavingscalculator.com. Pay attention to the numbers, not the hype.