Back on December 17, a reporter from one of the dailies, The Laconia Daily Sun, put out a small piece on where our local county stood nationally with respect to property taxes paid by residents. And here in NH, property tax is assessed at the local town / city level, the County level, and at the State level.
Well, he likes prose – I prefer tables (and while he’s limited to column inches, I’m not!). The following are three tables, Property Tax On Owner-Occupied Housing, by County, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid*, 2005-2007 Average, as derived by the same Tax Foundation that Mike quoted with a little bit of re-sorting by me.
Ranked by Median Property Taxes Paid on Homes:
| County | Median Property Taxes Paid on Homes | Rank | Median Home Value |
| Rockingham County | $ 4,950 | 21 | $ 321,500 |
| Hillsborough County | $ 4,583 | 31 | $ 276,300 |
| Merrimack County | $ 4,371 | 36 | $ 239,700 |
| Strafford County | $ 3,917 | 52 | $ 225,200 |
| Cheshire County | $ 3,814 | 60 | $ 188,700 |
| Grafton County | $ 3,357 | 94 | $ 203,200 |
| Sullivan County | $ 3,250 | 102 | $ 167,600 |
| Belknap County | $ 3,176 | 110 | $ 226,600 |
| Coos County | $ 2,436 | 234 | $ 117,900 |
| Carroll County | $ 2,306 | 256 | $ 234,600 |
Ranked by Tax as a % of Home Value:
| County | Median Home Value | Tax as % of Home Value | Rank | Median Homeowner Income |
| Coos County | $ 117,900 | 2.1% | 52 | $ 49,911 |
| Cheshire County | $ 188,700 | 2.0% | 55 | $ 61,900 |
| Sullivan County | $ 167,600 | 1.9% | 73 | $ 58,508 |
| Merrimack County | $ 239,700 | 1.8% | 119 | $ 69,919 |
| Strafford County | $ 225,200 | 1.7% | 152 | $ 69,257 |
| Hillsborough County | $ 276,300 | 1.7% | 190 | $ 81,335 |
| Grafton County | $ 203,200 | 1.7% | 196 | $ 61,965 |
| Rockingham County | $ 321,500 | 1.5% | 255 | $ 83,738 |
| Belknap County | $ 226,600 | 1.4% | 344 | $ 62,348 |
| Carroll County | $ 234,600 | 1.0% | 688 | $ 55,979 |
Ranked by Median Homeowner Income:
| County | Median Home Value | Median Homeowner Income | Tax as % of Income | Rank |
| Coos County | $ 117,900 | $ 49,911 | 4.9% | 66 |
| Cheshire County | $ 188,700 | $ 61,900 | 6.2% | 22 |
| Sullivan County | $ 167,600 | $ 58,508 | 5.6% | 40 |
| Merrimack County | $ 239,700 | $ 69,919 | 6.3% | 20 |
| Strafford County | $ 225,200 | $ 69,257 | 5.7% | 36 |
| Hillsborough County | $ 276,300 | $ 81,335 | 5.6% | 37 |
| Grafton County | $ 203,200 | $ 61,965 | 5.4% | 45 |
| Rockingham County | $ 321,500 | $ 83,738 | 5.9% | 28 |
| Belknap County | $ 226,600 | $ 62,348 | 5.1% | 56 |
| Carroll County | $ 234,600 | $ 55,979 | 4.1% | 173 |
Now, I like Mike – I believe that he does try to report the news in a straight up and down style. However, what is missing from this piece is context – what is the perspective that, in this case, is missing? Yup, nothing is said about sales tax or income tax. And in many places in the country, each of those is assessed at multiple levels. In NY or NJ, for instance, you can have a sales tax assessed at the local, county, and state levels….in addition to the property tax (which put them at the top of the chart, btw).
Overall, the better picture would be not just to show the property tax but also to have shown the overall tax burden (also provided by the Tax Foundation).
And that paints an entirely different picture:
| State-Local Tax Burdens, All States | ||||||
| 2008 | ||||||
| State | Rate | Rank (1 is highest) | Per Capita Taxes Paid to Home State | Per Capita Taxes Paid to Other States | Total State and Local Per Capita Taxes Paid | Per Capita Income |
| United States | 9.7% | $2,924 | $1,358 | $4,283 | $44,254 | |
| New Hampshire | 7.6% | 46 | $1,824 | $1,818 | $3,642 | $48,033 |
Being 46th out of 51 (where 1 is the highest; they also include the District of Columbia) seems to be a good in my book!
Single data points, such as what Mike provided, are good but do not always provide a context that provides a better picture. Neither do two data points, but the more general one (overall tax burden) shows a more general outlook; that said, more would be better.
