talking specifically about local property taxes (i figure this is only case where it differentiates WITHIN the state itself), it's a combination of desirability (which impacts property values, and thus, taxes), services (low services = low taxes), and the local tax base. in most rural towns, the school budgets make up well over 50% of the entire town's budget (last year, the elementary school in our town was like 65% of the entire town's budget).

there are some weird situations though. i would describe rockland as a more or less "undesirable" town (relative to it's neighbors -- if you can afford to live in Rockport or Camden vs. Rockland, you probably do), which has very high taxes relative to neighboring towns (such as Warren, Thomaston, Hope, Union, etc.)... but they have a lot more services... a police department, more schools, etc. etc.

folks in rockland claim that there are so many non-profits sucking up services, that it shifts the tax base responsibility to homeowners. i'm not sure if there's any validity to that.