Littleton, NH

[ötzi]

My Dad was a doctor with the State (i.e. psychiatric) Hospital system in Mass. for many years and he used to say that NH is a great state to live in if you're young, healthy and sane.

The people who would move from Malden or Methuen or Haverhill or wherever to Nashua when they started making some money to avoid taxes but who then moved back when they were broke and needed services used to particularly bug him.

[buttahflake]

Was that back in the horse and buggy days?

[ötzi]

He finally retired in '05. Retired from the state before that though, I guess like '98 or something. Maybe 2000, not positive.

[buttahflake]

Cool story bro

[ötzi]

Hey you asked when it was.

[schuss]

He's not wrong. NH has very little in terms of services or social support as a lot is municipal. The state is starting to take a bit more of a role on a few things now, but I doubt you'll ever see a meaningful implementation of lots of social support.

[riser4]

Legit question for those moving to NH due to taxation of retirement funds in VT, do you support higher taxes at the highest income brackets in order to eliminate that? I e. Before Ronnie Raygun? Do you support rolling back the policies and rulings that got us here? Money has to come from somewhere. Reducing services is a violation of the social contract.

[riser4]

So you're saying the state should have installed all kinds of cables and anchors in the rock? I'd rather let nature take its course because in the end, nature will always win.

I'm a 5th generation Vermonter on my father's side. I lived and worked in Vermont until 2 years ago. Lived in Upstate, lived in Mass also. I chose to retire in NH. Here's some inconvenient truths for you....

Vermont has the 5th highest funding per student in the country but can't crack the top 10 in any benchmark of student success. You know why that is? Because they have all these rural and inefficient school districts that pay too many superintendents and principals and staff and...teacher pay is shit. My daughter is a teacher in NH and her pay is way higher than VT for her experience level. We tried to get her to move back to Upstate where she went to HS and the teacher pay is great but she wanted to stay in NH. NH falls somewhere slightly above the median in the US in terms of those benchmarks but as noted, they pay far less for those results. Not saying that's a winner but I am saying Vermont is wasting education money that the taxpayers contribute.

Vermont taxes Social Security...all of it unless you earn less than $25K per year (that's rounded, it's actually lower). Even the amount you paid in which was a tax you already paid. That's just fucked up.

Vermont is the only state north of the Mason-Dixon line that taxes military retired pay. That's right NJ, NY, CT, MA and every other state north of MD does not tax military retired pay. Kudos to Phil Scott for trying to get that changed but Vermont has never (ever) rolled back a tax they imposed and the Legislature won't even consider it.

The current myth is that NH property taxes are higher than Vermont. That's not true in my experience. I bought a waterfront home in NH (12 minutes from Keene) and I pay far lower ($3000 less) property taxes on it than I did for a condo in Essex Junction (suburban Burlington) even though the NH home is assessed at $100K over the Vermont condo. I pay about the same taxes on a house in rural Vermont that is assessed at a value $160K below the NH home. This is just my experience but from my vantage point, property taxes in NH are far lower than in Vermont.

Roads are about equal in my experience. The main state roads in NH are actually in better shape than the main state roads in VT but some of the rural routes in NH are worse. I'll call it a wash.

There are 50,000 native-born Vermonters that live within 10 miles of the eastern shore of the Connecticut River in NH. That's almost 10% of the current population of Vermont. Chew on that fact for a while.... Of my entire extended family, I have exactly 1 cousin who is still living in Vermont. Most live in NH and more than 10 miles from the river.

I spent a fair part of my childhood and college years in Vermont and really wanted to love it. But I can't afford it.

Skiing is far better in Vermont. That's a no-brainer. The Greens get far more snow than the Whites.

The school district issue and teacher pay issue is a legit problem in VT. I've watched some stupid shit play out in some very small towns. Belvedere and Waterville just completely blew my mind with their entrenched positions and unwillingness to work together, all because of control issues. That was 30+ years ago and based on the two new schools they each built 20 years ago, after bickering for a decade or more, it can't have gotten any better. And that's state didn't make it any better. They push a lot to the local level. Some of that is deserved, as in "if you can't be helpful, then work it out amongst yer damn selves, we're sick of your shit."

[jackstraw]

My Dad was a doctor with the State (i.e. psychiatric) Hospital system in Mass. for many years and he used to say that NH is a great state to live in if you're young, healthy and sane.

The people who would move from Malden or Methuen or Haverhill or wherever to Nashua when they started making some money to avoid taxes but who then moved back when they were broke and needed services used to particularly bug him.

Truly classic. I've found a segment of our population that bitch about taxes/policies are the ones who use social services more than others, but are completely clueless as to where the money comes from.

The other segment are the wealthy who don't give a shit about anyone but themselves and don't need social programs unless it's corporate welfare of course.

[CantDog]

My Dad was a doctor with the State (i.e. psychiatric) Hospital system in Mass. for many years and he used to say that NH is a great state to live in if you're young, healthy and sane.

The people who would move from Malden or Methuen or Haverhill or wherever to Nashua when they started making some money to avoid taxes but who then moved back when they were broke and needed services used to particularly bug him.

Can confirm—you don’t want to live in NH if you have a mental health issue that may need inpatient stabilization, unless you’re rich(or a Veteran with VA benefits). If you’re an older adult with MH issues? Yer fucked. Definitely seen patients board for WEEKS in community EDs in New Hampshire awaiting a psych bed. I’m sure that does wonders for one’s mental health.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Can confirm—you don’t want to live in NH if you have a mental health issue that may need inpatient stabilization, unless you’re rich(or a Veteran with VA benefits). If you’re an older adult with MH issues? Yer fucked. Definitely seen patients board for WEEKS in community EDs in New Hampshire awaiting a psych bed. I’m sure that does wonders for one’s mental health.

It's no better in VT...