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11-10-2010, 09:03 AM
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#41
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gone traveling
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50
More OT: 79protons, are you a 'gold bug' (my chemistry is weak, I had to google it )?
-ERD50
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Hah, yes, my hobby is prospecting...although the gold in WA state is pretty small stuff and a bit hard to find. I hope to FIRE in Alaska in a few years and spend quite a bit of time prospecting there in much better gold fields. Maybe suplement our retirement with a major strike!
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11-10-2010, 12:33 PM
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#42
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,149
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Quote:
Originally Posted by keegs
What is and will undermine public pensions IMO will be the lack of voter support for them.
Politicians are/will build their careers on this.
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+1
The voters, within the confines of the Constitution, must be listened to. When the politicians totally stop listening to the citizens, it's over.....
__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
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11-10-2010, 01:20 PM
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#43
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rescueme
It's the same where I live (mid-Atlantic). Values of homes go down, millage is increased, and taxes remain the same (or go up).
Assuming you have the same amount of homes in an area and you have public services (schools, fire, police, trash, etc.) somebody still has to pay for those services.
The only way around it is if you cut services (lay off folks). I don't think anybody wants fewer services than are currently being given, so regardless of any home value, the same amount of real estate tax has to be paid.
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Not trying to start an argument or anything, but there's a statement in here that just gets accepted, and I think is a big part of the problem. I personally would like to see fewer services offered so taxes can be relieved. Or reallocated to some better use. I'm not going to go deeply into which services, because that always devolves into a ox goring debate. But I think there is plenty of room for more intelligent use of the resources, and a lot of waste cutting could be done. We need to focus on resetting the incentives of the politicians and gov't employees toward less wastage by rewarding thoughtful stewardship of public money.
Sorry, just can't let that one slide by. I suspect there are others who wouldn't mind seeing fewer services/lower taxes.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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11-10-2010, 01:24 PM
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#44
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
Sorry, just can't let that one slide by. I suspect there are others who wouldn't mind seeing fewer services/lower taxes.
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I resemble that.
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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11-10-2010, 01:47 PM
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#45
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,806
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
Not trying to start an argument or anything, but there's a statement in here that just gets accepted, and I think is a big part of the problem. I personally would like to see fewer services offered so taxes can be relieved. ....
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Agree in concept, but it would still be a problem. Let's say we had a utopia Goldilocks village where the municipal services were 100% efficient and sized 'just right' and everyone agreed with what they were. (dream, dream dream...)
I don't think home prices are a good measure of the economy. I would not want those "just right" services cut by 25% just because some appraiser says my house value dropped. It doesn't really reflect my ability to pay for those services that I now agree that I want. So I'd be getting services cut that I value. Level loading of the bill makes sense to me, what makes up that bill is a different story.
Back to reality - The vast majority of my Property Tax bill goes to pay a group of employees who have a contract with guaranteed wage increases, regardless of how the economy is doing. That's a problem. It's been discussed here before, I doubt anything new would come out of a re-hash, so I'll go play with a new toy I got instead (finally converting my vinyl to digital format).
edit/add - 'vinyl' made me think of this added comment - On the 'flip side' (ahem).... I also sure would not want my tax bill to go up just because some crazy housing bubble increased the value of my house on paper.
-ERD50
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11-10-2010, 03:46 PM
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#46
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,150
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
Sorry, just can't let that one slide by. I suspect there are others who wouldn't mind seeing fewer services/lower taxes.
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I also resemble that...
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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