This New England

Many Massachusetts citizens will be tempted to vote next month to repeal the state's income tax -- a move that would wipe out 40 percent of state revenues. It may sound devil may care but it's on the ballot! Bay Staters look at New Hampshire and see no broad-based tax and a thriving economy. Why not us?

The trouble is that New Hampshire is a rural, suburban and exurban place without the needs of a far more complex, urban state, such as Massachusetts.

And Massachusetts's taxes aren't all that high, especially for an urban state. The Tax Foundation ranks Massachusetts 23rd among states for its overall state and local tax burden. Back in 1980, Massachusetts (then aka "Taxachusetts'') was ranked second, behind New York. New Hampshire is fourth "best'' (or lowest, anyway).

Anyway, to me the more important thing is whether a state has good fiscal programs, in which the money is generally spent well and such spending doesn't undermine long-term wealth creation for the mass of the citizenry --indeed boosts it, through good education, transportation infrastructure, public health and so on. That Massachusetts is ranked the second or third richest state on a per-capita basis would suggest that it works pretty well.

That isn't to say of course that New Hampshire (where I spent four occasionally happy years as a college student) doesn't work pretty well too, according to its different needs, desires and traditions. God knows, they plow snow well.

For that matter, the Granite State's success (the eight richest state) is in no small part due to its proximity to the money machine of Massachusetts. Much of the money spent there to pay for local schools, etc., is earned in the Bay State.

Some low-tax (and low services) states: Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. Wanna live there? I didn't think so.

Beyond the fringe

How nice that Barack Obama and Sarah Palin have backgrounds in, respectively, Hawaii and Alaska. They are a sort of coming of age for those two states, now increasingly integrated into the great blob of the Lower 48. I wonder what would have happened if we had held onto the Philippines.

 Tags  income tax New Hampshire Obama Palin

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