That is a good one. Does not DC use that slogan? In Maine the slogan on the plates says “Vacationland”. Some wag changed that to “Taxationland” and was arrested by the state police…

A ranch IS a business. The roads in Maine are worse, far worse, and have tolls on the interstate. Another Maine issue is their stealing road money for social program spending every year. Oh, and folk in Maine litter far more than do folk in Idaho.

Idaho might not be heaven on earth, but it is as close as a state gets. You can still earn a living here and keep most of your earnings. That is rare in a lot of blue states.

“I do not know if Idaho uses the concept of ‘tax aquired property’ as Maine does. In Maine, if you owe the city a few thousand in back property taxes or sewer fees, they can and do steal your home, sell it, and keep ALL the proceeds, normally hundreds of thousands in profit.”
** Yep, Idaho does that, too. You may owe 10 or 20 thou, so they take the property and sell it for 100 thou or whatever, and keep it all. Nice of them, isn’t it?

And, yes, Idaho taxes all of my retirement pay from my former employer (though not Social Security; feds take a bite out of that).

‘Tain’t all roses here, either, amigo.

IDAHO
taxation w/o representation

to go around our Idaho non-vanity plates.

watch for them

Prison growth skyrockets – Idaho is repeat offender

By 2011 one in every 178 U.S. residents will live in prison, according to a recent report by the Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population 2007-2011 projects that by 2011 America will have more than 1.7 million men and women in prison, an increase of more than 192,000 from 2006. That increase could cost taxpayers as much as $27.5 billion over the next five years beyond what they currently spend on prisons.

HEY COWBOY BUTCH: READ THIS PART CAREFULLY:
“Innovative governors and legislators across the country are exploring policies, programs and technologies they believe will save their states money and reduce recidivism,” said Adam Gelb, poject director of the Public Safety Performance Project.

• Unless Montana, Arizona, Alaska, Idaho and Vermont change their sentencing or release practices, they can expect to see their prison systems grow by one third or more.
• The new inmates will cost states an additional $15 billion for prison operations over the five-year period. Construction of new prison beds will cost as much as $12.5 billion.

“As states continue to struggle with tight budgets and competing priorities among health, education and safety, they are beginning to question whether huge additional investments in prisons are the most effective and economical way of combating crime,” said Susan Urahn, Managing Director of State Policy Initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts. “The challenge for state policy makers is to ensure that taxpayers are getting a strong return on their investment in corrections: safer communities, efficient use of public dollars, and ex-offenders who become productive, law-abiding members of society.”
Full report: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=31976

Having lived in both states, I wake every morning and bless God that I live in Idaho. You have never seen high taxes and the only folk losing their homes here, as about everywhere, are folk who bought into the ‘free lunch’ idea of not needed enough money to pay the mortgage.

I do not know if Idaho uses the concept of ‘tax aquired property’ as Maine does. In Maine, if you owe the city a few thousand in back property taxes or sewer fees, they can and do steal your home, sell it, and keep ALL the proceeds, normally hundreds of thousands in profit.

Another diference is, in Idaho the highest wage earners in the state do not work for the government as they do in Maine. The ‘average’ teacher in Portland maine has a salary of about $60K while the median family income in the city is $38K (and Portland is the most prosperous area of Maine). 108,000 wage earners of 620,000 get a pay check directly from government, an equal number are social workers or contract employees who work in the private sector but whose income comes from the taxpayer. The top Maine income tax rate of 8.75% is reached for single folk at less than $17,000. The state uses the personal property tax to tax private cars every year. When you buy a car, you have to pay both a sales tax and a county tax. the county tax does not reflect the purchase price of the car but the MSRP. You pay the county tax every year.

If you plan to retire in Maine you pay income tax on your retirement income, all of it, except for a $7K deduction on a military pension.

You will note that almost all these taxes are not levied in the same way in Idaho.

Oh, then there is the ‘vernal pool’ restrictions. The legislature decided that ‘significant’ vernal pools on private prperty must be protected for green reasons so…If you own a home of land with serious mud puddles on it, you cannot develop the area around the puddle.

A vernal pool is not a lake or pond where there is there year round but an area of mud puddles that dry up and go away after the winter snows melt.

You want to buy heath insurance in Maine? Seems the legislatrue has regulated the products offered and companies participating to the point that health insurance costs almost twice as much in Maine as in next door New Hampshire…same policy, same company.

Yeah, the left is so good at managing economies…Maine is a third world country masquarading as a US State.

Seems it doesn’t matter which party has the power — they both become thoroughly corrupt when they hold the reins.

Some years back, Idaho used to elect a Republican Legislature and a Democratic governor — they kind of kept each other in check to some extent.

Now the R legislators are busy fighting with the R governor, so neither can seem to get anything done. (Maybe that’s just as well.)

Ah, well — where else can you run to?

I came from a place that was a lot like Idaho, 30 years ago, republican, a place of personal responsibility, modest taxes and few government regulations. After over 30 years on one party democrat rule, Maine has become the state with the highest state and local tax burden compared to income in the country, they, with a bit fewer folk that Idaho, have a budget shortfall approaching $400 million, have damaged business to the point that jobs are simply not there. 1 in 6 folk get a paycheck straight from government and 1 in 4 is on some form of welfare. Business has fled as have a growing number of the states middle class, myself included. The overwhelming majority of the states University graduates flee the state for better job opportunites as soon as they grraduate. The state taxes almost all of ones retirement money. The homestead exemption was a generous $13,500. They tax everything and want to tax more. Last year the legislature decided to steal all unused gift certificates ater 2 years. This year they propose stealing stock from citizens if the state can define it as abandoned (which means has not seen activity for 2 years). The roads are a mess, though they pretend it is the highest priority. That is the problem, if there are no limits on taxes, then there is no reason to set meaningful priorities and everything becomes a priority. As a result the pressure for ever more growth in government is inexorable. Taxes are astounding…My $220K home in Portland Maine was taxed at over $4000 the year I sold and fled.

No, no new taxes for me. I’ll vote against any and all. We pay our politicians to live within their means. Force them to do it.