People have for decades made jokes about New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die", making the connection between the saying and New Hampshire residents' famous - or infamous - resistance to broad-based taxes like income and sales taxes. New Hampshire has also been skewered about its reliance on so-called "sin taxes", including room and meals taxes and levies on booze and cigarettes. The state has notoriously kept cigarette and liquor prices lower than its neighboring states, resulting in a brisk business in these products along the borders of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine.

But the joke's on the state's neighbors: The favorable tax climate has become a magnet to businesses deciding to move to New Hampshire from other states. Big businesses ranging from a branch of Fidelity Investments in Merrimack to numerous computer and information technology firms in the greater Nashua area have brought jobs to the region, and people have followed. New residents moving up from the Boston area and Connecticut have spurred both existing home sales and the building of new residences, initially in the southern part of the state but now spreading above Franconia Notch to the northern reaches of the state. And while some find well-paying jobs in the state, others choose to live in New Hampshire and commute to their jobs in adjoining Massachusetts - some even to the greater Boston area.

The relatively slow pace of New Hampshire life apparently appeals to many new residents, as does access to a solid school system. Retirees are also choosing to move to New Hampshire, some buying single family detached homes, others opting for one of a variety of upscale retirement villages offering numerous activities for still energetic baby boomers.

One other type of business has found a welcome home in New Hampshire; the state has become a mecca for retail businesses. Box stores from WalMart to Target, from Home Depot to Lowe's take advantage of the absence of a sales tax to pull in shoppers, not only from surrounding communities, but from a wide radius which extends into other states. Food franchises like Olive Garden and TGIF spring up like baby chicks around a mother hen to service the shoppers, and find their employees among local residents as well as the many students attending area colleges and universities. While service jobs are not the highest paying jobs in the world, they are readily available in the state and provide a necessary base for those just starting out or for people looking to slow down and perhaps opt for a less demanding, maybe even part time, job.

While New Hampshire's citizens periodically do battle to try to alter its tax base, it's likely that broad-based income or sales taxes will not happen, and the state's preferred business environment will continue to draw in businesses, and new residents, for decades to come.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire. She has written numerous articles for local and regional newspapers and for a number of Internet websites, including Tips and Topics. She expresses her opinions periodically on her blog, http://beyondagendas.blogspot.com She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com