<p>This is one state. There are lots of other states.</p>
<p>I’m not worried. You shouldn’t worry either. But do let me know when you see an affordable place to buy in SF or the north bay.</p>
<p>How about Manhattan?</p>
<p>What do you see in manhattan?</p>
<p>Someone sold it to me for some beads. I am trying to get rid of it. :D</p>
<p>Seriously, I cant believe this guy is using a yacht in manhattan for a home.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/100461801[/url]”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/100461801</a></p>
<p>Yeah. I think I will pass on that. :)</p>
<p>Patrick’s budget came out.</p>
<p>Income taxes from 5.25% to 6.25%.
Sales taxes from 6.25% to 4.5%.
Double personal exemption.
Eliminate a bunch of tax breaks.
Repeal sales tax exemption for candy and soda.
Increase tobacco taxes.
Tax custom modifications to canned software (strange tax break).
Cap film tax credit at $40M/year.</p>
<p>I looked through the list of 44 tax benefits that he wants to cut. Some of them are employer-provided stuff like accidental death and dismemberment, life insurance, food provided to employees, parsonages, capital gains exclusion on home sales, tuition deduction, etc. Apparently you don’t have to pay income taxes for the first $200 that you make in interest from MA savings banks.</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware of all of these deductions but I guess that’s why the MA tax forms are so big.</p>
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I think this part is pretty much a non-starter. No one in the legislature has come out in favor of this plan.</p>
<p>Well, the plan just came out.</p>
<p>I do like the simplification aspects of the plan. A good chunk of this approach may be a model for Federal changes in a few years. I don’t plan on moving to MA anytime though there are many things that I like about the state. It’s a lot easier to just perch over the border. This plan makes it a little more unattractive. My son is going to have to declare residency of some kind in MA this year but he doesn’t have much unearned income that would get taxed at pretty high rates.</p>
<p>The income tax/sales tax part of it was announced around a month ago, IIRC. The news people interviewed a bunch of legislators and none of them were in favor.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the list of proposed fee increases or deduction changes until now, but many are aimed right at the middle class.</p>
<p>Doubling the personal exemption is nice, but eliminating the FICA and child deductions more than offsets that, so families with children will see their taxes go up.</p>
<p>I just don’t see the will to increase spending by $2 billion.</p>
<p>MA taxes now take about 10-15 minutes to file. It’s all online. Very easy if you do your federal forms first because you pretty much copy and paste and the forms prompt you for information. I was surprised they did such a good job. The forms used to be terrible with opaque instructions.</p>
<p>The budget proposal is just something to argue about. Remember, he says he’s going to retire after this term so this is partly about legacy and what the debate consists of.</p>
<p>^ The printout of my MA taxes last year by my tax program was 23 pages long. </p>
<p>I don’t think I could file that in 15 minutes. :D</p>
<p>You can’t do the MA online filing if you are a non-resident or part-year resident. There are two other categories that they apparently don’t handle in their software.</p>
<p>BTW, how long does it take to type in 1,000 stock transactions into their online tax program?</p>
<p>I have a fairly complicated tax return and it took me 15 minutes. I have no idea how long the printout would be because I make a pdf. </p>
<p>I really don’t give a darn about non-resident returns. </p>
<p>But none of this stuff matters.</p>
<p>BTW, since this thread is about tax policy, check out the tax increases in Michigan, where I’m from. The GOP runs the state and cut taxes for business. That means tax increases for most other people, particularly the middle class and poor. As the Freep notes today, a couple with 2 kids making $50k will pay $739 more, which about 80% more than before. A couple with 2 kids making $250k will pay $1000 more, an increase of about 10%. They quote a Grant Thornton partner as saying about half the state’s filers will pay more in taxes. It’s a weird world we live in.</p>
<p>I know that the donor state/recipient state discussion was a few pages ago, but let me point out that MA is one of the biggest recipient states (if not the largest) in the nation. </p>
<p>Eds, meds, and military. We take in more “indirect” federal money than almost every other state in the nation. Two hundred fifty or more colleges = a tsunami of federal loan money. Teaching hospitals? Federal money. Military bases? Federal money. </p>
<p>Let me also note that it’s absurd to talk about federal highway dollars per capita. First, highways are measured in miles, not people. (Yes, highways do wear down based on traffic, too, but that is only part of it. Such a “per capita” calculation favours densely populated states.) Second, if a truck carries produce from Iowa to Massachusetts, or gas from Louisiana to MA, the people in MA benefit from those vehicle miles travelled in so-called recipient states, but recipient state highways will be worn down and damaged by the 18 wheelers. </p>
<p>To use an extreme example, a person in Manhattan could eat produce from California, shipped through over two thousand miles of other state highways and a few dozen miles (tops) of NY highway, and congratulate himself for the magnanimous gift of highway funds to other states. He could also be attending medical school on federal aid, be in a federally-funded residency, and then wonder why those benighted red states take so much federal money. </p>
<p>Just saying.</p>
<p>Can I see your link that shows Ma. gets more than they receive or is that just your personal calculation using what you want to count?</p>
<p>Ariesathena, what are you doing these days? Are you still in law school? A practicing lawyer?</p>
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<p>I see. Your anecdotal evidence should be generalized to all taxpayers.</p>
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<p>Why not? They pay taxes too.</p>
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<p>Then why did you bring it up?</p>
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<p>I don’t give a damn about Michigan.</p>
<p>According to this article, MA isn’t even in the top 10:</p>
<p>[States</a> That Get The Most Federal Money - 24/7 Wall St.](<a href=“http://247wallst.com/2012/08/03/states-that-get-the-most-federal-money/]States”>States That Get The Most Federal Money – 24/7 Wall St.)</p>
<p>Or this one:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/49200137/page/1[/url]”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/49200137/page/1</a></p>
<p>"Two hundred fifty or more colleges = a tsunami of federal loan money. Teaching hospitals? Federal money. Military bases? Federal money. "</p>
<p>Never seen anyone point out having colleges equals federal boondoggle but that figures! Did not know MA had 250 colleges.</p>