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Do your local governments steal from you?
There was a time when government services where there to aid the needs of the population. Now their goal, at least in Seattle, is to hire folks time and again to do work no one asks for and justify their efforts by saying their efforts creates jobs and benefits the populace. While there is an element of truth to this, the tax payer always gets the unwanted and often expressly not approved bills for this approach. The question, is does this happen everywhere?
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...Tracy '00 ML320 "Casper" '92 400E "Stella" |
#2
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Our little community if full of very apathetic voters (last referendum vote was a near no-show).
So it's no surprise that we pay some of the highest property taxes in the area and have sales taxes that exceed downtown NY! In the meantime, the local board has approved (thanks in part to the lack of voter participation) another tax hike to support street maintenance, which should be covered under basic municipal funds!
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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle 2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car 2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver 2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car |
#3
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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle 2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car 2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver 2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car |
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I remember one city that had a "rain tax", there was an equation that calculated the amount of quarterly rainfall and the square footage of improved property including parking. Needless to say it didn't make it far in court.
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Our local govt. is pretty lean. In fact, it's so lean that the Feds have decided that we don't need money to operate. Minnesota gets $0.78 for every federal tax dollar paid. Every southern state except for Texas and Florida had a positive return on their federal tax dollars. Florida broke even, Texas lost $0.04. New Mexico did the best, making a whopping $2.34 for each dollar invested in the federal government. It's gotta be the UFO's.
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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman |
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Q: What's better than being deep in the heart of Texas? A: Six inches into Virginia.
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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman |
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Local governments quite often are the first and last lines of defense that keep your communities liveable and worthwhile places to invest. Just because you personally don't perceive the value of the services provided by government, doesn't mean those services aren't of intrinsic value to your community. |
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I don't remember the details, but the State of Alabama offered MB millions in corporate welfare benefits so that they'd locate their plant down there. I seem to remember that the deal amounted to something like $200,000 per job...do mom n' pop outfits get that kind of treatment? Walmart gets all sorts of land use and tax welfare benefits so they can move in and displace local businesses--I could go on... |
#10
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G-Benz, Does your local gov start projects even though the voters say no?
Botnst: why does lack of state income tax alter your respect of the will of the people? 300SDLLLL: it sounds as if Houston follows a similar path of Seattle: here, as is commonly the case the (fill in the blank) gov branch will pass a bill and start collecting taxes, often without a public vote and well ahead of the time it takes for the courts to decide the legality of the gov branch’s actions. As often as not the court finds the actions illegal but even that doesn’t necessarily stop the tax collection. Or necessarily start a refund. MedMech: in Seattle we have a surface water tax that’s supposed to pay for the costs of removing water. Naturally the city wont deal with this problem in residential areas unless forced. Z: your comment that the gov also steals by offering incentives to bigger employers than it does to small business is interesting. I’ve thought the volume discount the gov offered to big employers was more than a fair trade for pumping potentially 10s of millions in wages into the economy, as does boeing, but you point out it only changes by degrees the nature of theft – corporate welfare. BTW, is what Boeing doing really extortion or merely the effects of open competition?
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...Tracy '00 ML320 "Casper" '92 400E "Stella" |
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They have every right to complain. Every taxpayer does. But Texas has just about the most benign state government.
I wish my state (and national gov) would follow that lead. |
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I ain't 'messin with Texas' (I've lived there), but I don't think it should be a national model...hell, my home state (Washington) would be a mighty poor national model--especially cuz we don't have an income tax. We have THE most regressive tax structure in the nation. |
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...Tracy '00 ML320 "Casper" '92 400E "Stella" |
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Rick Miley 2014 Tesla Model S 2018 Tesla Model 3 2017 Nissan LEAF Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro Chain Elongation References |
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Long story short--they eventually co-opted the city council and got their extorted 50% sewer rates on a 5-4 vote. Oh, ya, they also got between $8-12 million in back debt owed to the community wiped clean in the process. They closed down the plant earlier this year.... Do businesses exist to serve the community, or is it the other way around? |
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