Rochester is best place in U.S. to buy a home

[Mick]

Wanna hear something really weird? In this little hamlet we live in (Population: 2,800), we have two states and four counties. Depending on where you live, your tax might be quite low or way too high. For example, folks living in Giles Co. TN will pay more on a house assessed at 100K than folks in Limestone Co., AL will pay on a house with assessed value of 150K. Where we live (Lincoln Co., TN.) we are kind of in the middle tax wise. Tennessee, however, has no state income tax. Cigarette taxes are interesting as well. A pack of Marlboro might cost 4.00 on one side of the street, and 5.50 on the other side. Strange little place we got here. Also, you can buy beer on one side of Main Street, but not on the other.

 

We used to have a restaurant out by the Interstate that straddled the state line. It has since closed, but back when it was open it was a trip. The kitchen was in Alabama and the dining room was in Tennessee. The issue was sales tax (nine cents/dollar in Alabama; ten cents/dollar in Tennessee.); courts decided, because the cash register was located in Alabama, Alabama tax took precedent.

 

Some day, when time permits, I'll write about what happened on a Main Street project to install a left turn lane, when the state line runs right down the middle of Main Street. The left turn lane would service west-bound traffic, which was in Tennessee, but the turn lane would be located in Alabama. It took years of debate on deciding who would pay for it, not to mention its upkeep. Working for the newspaper at the time, I got to cover all those meetings. You want to talk about small town politics? I'll tell you, banana republics ain't got nuthin on this place.