Proposed 6 cent Gas Tax Increase - Page 2

bowtieguy · 05-17-2009, 05:41 AM

my town mayor came out publically to support the 6 cent tax increase. guess who won't get my vote next election?

Snax · 05-17-2009, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theholycow

Major levels of US government:
Federal
State
County
Town/city ("local")

Federal government levies income taxes, import tarriffs, capital gains (income specifically from investments), and some other stuff I don't remember.

States vary but tend to have income taxes, fuel taxes, various types of licensing taxes, and sales taxes. Some may have property taxes.

I think counties vary considerably from one state to the next. In my very small state, the counties don't mean much, don't seem to have much or any government, don't tax, etc; they're basically just divisions on a map. In other states, counties actually do stuff and may be able to tax.

Cities/towns tend to have real estate/property taxes (tax on land, houses, and major items like cars), fire tax (pays for fire stations), and some other minor taxes I don't remember.

You left out Home Owners Associations that can pretty much do what they please!

theholycow · 05-17-2009, 08:01 AM

Ugh. I forgot HOAs. I've never had personal experience with one, but they sound dreadful when others talk about them.

HOAs are not government, but they might a s well be. They tell you what you can and can't do, how your house and yard are supposed to look, etc. They charge taxes, punish violations with fines or can even throw you out, and provide services. Etc. They are basically a neighborhood government created by a company that builds a cookie-cutter neighborhood to make sure it stays cookie-cutter.

Snax · 05-17-2009, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkjones96

It'll end when everything goes to the government and you get a spending card with your allotment on it. But they'll even still tax purchases.

I had just been talking about this with a friend of mine. They take 20% of my money at the federal level, roughly 5% at the state level, then a 6% sales tax. That means 1/3rd of my money goes to a government to keep my roads paved, since that's about all I use. But, vehicle registration and fuel taxes are supposed to fund that so I don't know if that even counts.

Move to a rural area, where your taxes don't support a library, where you don't have bus service, where the fire department is operated by volunteers, where there are no rights of way to maintain for sewer and water services. Your property tax will be lower and you won't pay for all of that stuff that you don't use.

That's not meant to be snarky nor for or against a gas tax, but just a pragmatic argument to consider. Short commutes are great, but for us, an extra 5 minute drive would save us over a $1500/year in property taxes. I doubt the extra 5 minutes of driving would eat into that very much in terms of fuel consumption, but unfortunately that means we would also give up the services I noted above (that we are happy to have) or pay extra to get them.

Regardless, gas taxes make sense to me on the level of getting the revenue for road maintenance from the people who use them.

bowtieguy · 06-23-2009, 01:42 PM

an update on this thread...

the gas tax increase got the ax, but now vehicle registration/title fees are going up. i had no idea. got an email showing the official county sight. they snuck it in obviously.

i read my tiny local paper the other day. the opinion/letters to the editor page was dominated w/ tax talk. citizens and politicians alike were discouraged at the lack of constraint.

i hope enough people ACT instead of just complaining by voting next session. i'd like to see a real message sent such that not one current official is re-elected. or, at least none that support tax increases.

bowtieguy · 06-23-2009, 01:52 PM

i just sent them an email expressing my disapproval!

dkjones96 · 06-23-2009, 02:27 PM

If only email actually did something. What ever happened to people gathering for a riot to show their disapproval in our government? The Iranians are doing it... Why don't we?

jcp123 · 06-23-2009, 03:48 PM

I would ask them to possibly spend money correctly before raising taxes even more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snax

Move to a rural area, where your taxes don't support a library, where you don't have bus service, where the fire department is operated by volunteers, where there are no rights of way to maintain for sewer and water services. Your property tax will be lower and you won't pay for all of that stuff that you don't use.

That's not meant to be snarky nor for or against a gas tax, but just a pragmatic argument to consider. Short commutes are great, but for us, an extra 5 minute drive would save us over a $1500/year in property taxes. I doubt the extra 5 minutes of driving would eat into that very much in terms of fuel consumption, but unfortunately that means we would also give up the services I noted above (that we are happy to have) or pay extra to get them.

Regardless, gas taxes make sense to me on the level of getting the revenue for road maintenance from the people who use them.

Ya know, we moved out into the country, but didn't know that we would still get hit with some city taxes. We have to pay the local junior college tax, for instance, but I didn't get in-district tuition. Bleagh. Yet, we're not obligated to pay other city taxes because we are outside of the city limits. It's strange.