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Why Don't Liberals Want To Pay Their Property Tax?
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2013 Feb 2, 6:39am 8,851 views 20 comments
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AverageBear
2013 Feb 2, 6:56am
John, don't mean to hijack your thread, but this reminds me of the moonbats out here in Mass. We have a two-tiered state income tax; You can pay the normal 5.3%, or the older/higher tax rate of 5.85% Simple checkbox on the state tax form... Those liberals who always berate anyone who will listen, that we should 'pay our fair share'. Those that shout the most get questioned on whether they paid the higher tax rate. It would make sense to 'lead by example', no? Then they'll say 'no' but will pay when we force everyone else to pay the higher/desired rate. Bunch 'o hypocrites... This is culled from Howie Carr, a local conservative writer/talk show guy here in Boston.... A little dated, but the #'s are about the same every year...
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Hey moonbats of Massachusetts -- why won’t you pay more taxes? You’re always lecturing the rest of us how taxes are an investment in the future, the price we pay for civilization, etc., etc. But when given the option of personally paying your fair share, hey, come back here, you pony-tailed trust-fund recipient you. ...
As the deadline for filing 2009 state income taxes nears, once again the Beautiful People of Massachusetts are proving that while they enjoy talking the talk, walking the walk is another thing altogether.
We have a two-tier income tax in this state, you know. You have the option of paying either at the standard rate of 5.3 percent, or at the old, higher 5.85 percent rate.
As of Wednesday, here are this years numbers, according to the state DOR:
Of 1,840,000 state tax filers, exactly 931 have opted to pay taxes at the higher rate. That works out to one-twentieth of one percent. Think of it this way: In 2000, only 60 percent of the Massachusetts electorate voted to cut the income tax, but a decade later 99.95% of the population has decided to take advantage of the tax cut a lot of them claimed they didn’t want or need.
Peter P
2013 Feb 2, 7:32am
There are two schools of thought:
1) I am responsible for myself
2) YOU are responsible for everyone
Don't want to pay hihwhatthefuckareyoutalkingaboit?
Our average home price is more than double Texas. The cost of our schools cost about the same. Property taxes pay for schools. Why should they be the same as Texas?
Washington is a very socially liberal state, but not that economically. Our tax system is incredibly regressive.
Why should they be the same as Texas?
to make jobs and industries more competitive... and even the employers state its a problem in higher costing CA. frankly we were not the much off from home prices/rents after the correction in early 90s. Why should we be higher.. your just asking for trouble down the road... who the fuck needs layoffs and job loses.
ON THE RECORD / CARL GUARDINO
Published 4:00 am, Sunday, May 13, 2007
Q: So are those really challenges?
A: Unequivocally, yes. Not only to the CEOs in the boardroom, but to any family you talk to in their living room. What we hear time after time from CEOs as well as frontline employees is how incredibly difficult it is to come here and stay here. That truly does have an impact on a company's bottom line when the cost differential is so much higher here than it is in other regions around the state, nation and globe, or the ability to recruit top talent is also impacted.
You mentioned housing. It probably is the top concern we hear about in Silicon Valley from both CEOs and employees in terms of local issues. Does that have an impact? Let me put a finer point on it.
Hewlett-Packard and Dell are the top two computer-makers in the world. Corporate headquarters for HP are located in Palo Alto and Dell is in Round Rock, Texas. Obviously, they both have people and facilities around the globe.
In those two communities where their corporate headquarters are and where a lot of research and development takes place, the median resale price for a home in Palo Alto is about $1.6 million. In Round Rock, Texas, it's about $180,000, except the home and property are bigger.
We hear from HP all the time that a huge deterrent to the ability to recruit and retain people anywhere near Silicon Valley is the housing issue. We don't hear that from Dell, which is also a member company, about their operations in Round Rock. It does continue to plague us and we will continue to sound the alarm.
lostand confused
2013 Feb 2, 11:02am
You can pay the normal 5.3%, or the older/higher tax rate of 5.85%
On the map it says that MA pays a 1% property tax also, again half as much as Texas and still less than the "Conservative Utopia" of Kansas!
Maybe then the question should be -why do conservatives say they love low taxes and keep having high taxes? After all WA does not have any state taxes either??
and even the employers state its a problem in higher costing CA
We were talking about Washington, not California. Nobody gives a shit about whether california is stupid or not.
Oh, and the reason that Texas's property tax is so high should be fairly obvious: They have no income tax and only a 6.5% sales tax!
WA taxes are unlike just about any other state:
- B&O taxes which tax businesses on revenue rather than income. A huge mistake IMO, but it doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent for businesses here.
- Most property tax is assessed as a fixed dollar amount divided proportionally by property values. This ensures a constant, stable income base for schools, rather than having incomes surge when home prices go up and drop when home prices go down. I may pay around 1% this year, but it was closer to 1.5% two years ago when my home was assessed at a much lower value.
- No income tax
- One of the highest sales taxes in the country (9.5% on most items in most counties, higher in some cases)
WA property taxes are probably a bit too low overall, given that we aren't adequately funding K-12. Inslee says he won't raise taxes but I don't think he's got a choice.
The idea to require a 2/3rds majority for taxes is moronic. It's the kind of thing that leads states like stupid california to pass spending bills without passing revenue bills to pay for them. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's a great way to ensure your state becomes fiscally unstable and winds up having to make cuts to things that really need it.
Dan8267
2013 Feb 2, 1:20pm
Why Don't Liberals Want To Pay Their Property Tax?
Why Don't Conservatives Want To Learn How To Read Graphs Correctly?
1. Most democrats aren't liberals.
2. Liberalism is a social philosophy, not an economic one.
3. The graph you displayed shows "Median Property Tax as a Percentage of Median Household Value". Now, I'm not sure what that exactly means (what they are measuring or how), but it sure as hell does not show the Property Tax Rate by State. For that, you need to look at the following graph, by the same people who generated the graph you posted.
Notice that there is no correlation whatsofuckingever between property tax rates and red vs. blue states. With the exception of Texas, there is a correlation between cold states and higher property taxes.
At best, it seems that there are two correlations shown in the graph above. Northern states have higher taxes then the states just south of them, and eastern states have higher taxes than western states.
Oh, and the reason that Texas's property tax is so high should be fairly obvious: They have no income tax and only a 6.5% sales tax!
lower taxes, brings more business in state...increases economic growth and jobs.
control your spending and regulations dont need so much revenues...
Cry... they may be the next Boom town(s) Deep in heart of Texas !
These charts clearly show the correlation between property taxes and the cost of housing, the employment rates and state's IQ. Note, the blue states, with the highest property taxes, happen to have the lowest cost of housing, the lowest unemployment rates and the lowest amount of illiteracy.
The yellow states, with the lowest property taxes, have the highest cost of housing, the highest unemployment rates and the worst PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEMS.
JodyChunder
2013 Feb 2, 6:20pm
Oh, and the reason that Texas's property tax is so high should be fairly obvious: They have no income tax and only a 6.5% sales tax!
FWIW there's no income tax in Washington, either. Also, in certain parts of Central Texas, the sales tax is 8.25. The prices and rents are much higher there, too. So, depending on where you live in scrubhole TX, it can be on par with old blighty where taxes and overall housing is concerned.
State and local sales taxes combined are over 8% in essentially every city or town in Texas. In urban areas we pay extra property tax to subsidize poorer school districts in other parts of the state. It's closer to 4% than it is to 2%.
And then there's the hidden tax that I call the "stupid tax". It's that extra cost one might pay for being stupid. It's mostly Californians that pay it. It works like this: every now and then we get a wave of Californians sweep through central Texas and bid up houses to 40% to 60% over fair market value. Texans shopping for homes don't especially appreciate that, you know. But come January the tax bill hits and the 'for sale' signs start popping up in their yards. And this time they tend to sell for normal prices.
It's nice that the Californians left such a big chunk of their money here. Gotta pay their fair share you know.
lostand confused
2013 Feb 3, 12:08am
In urban areas we pay extra property tax to subsidize poorer school districts in
other parts of the state. It's closer to 4% than it is to 2%.
Yes, I was surprised about this about TX. My friends there talk about this and how their property taxes funds other area's schools too. I was a bit surprised they would follow this in TX? That sounds pretty close to socialism??
That unpopular and unsustainable bit of social engineering was the only (thankfully) major legacy left us by the last liberal governor of Texas, Anne Richards circa 1990.. Richards was so abrsasive that she ended the Democrat dominance of state politics and we stuck with conservatives Bush and Perry from then on. Obama take note.
Attempts to do away with the so-called Robin-Hood tax have been consistently derailed by leftists proposing to put a state income tax in its place. Thank you, but no.
Vicente
2013 Feb 3, 2:59am
Could it be that Liberals are not who they say they are? Are they really just a form of Monarchy, people with land and assets who only want to tax the productive people? You can guess my opinion.
Your hypothesis is trivially disproven!
Texas is conservative but neighboring New Mexico is full-Libtard? By your logic states like SC & UT *must* be even more Librul than WA?
Many people who own homes, want services and infrastructure but don't want to pay the taxes for them. It is not uncommon for Americans to vote for something like a war or whatever, but want to run the budget in the red and worry about financing it later. Welcome to political reality.
Keep running Forrest!
JodyChunder
2013 Feb 3, 5:29pm
every now and then we get a wave of Californians sweep through central Texas and bid up houses to 40% to 60% over fair market value.
The good thing is that they usually always leave again.
"With no income tax in WA and TX, Microsoft and Exxon are laughing their ass off"
Not quite SPace. It would be more accurate to say Texas is laughing its ass off at the more progressive business-hostile states. With the sales tax revenue these 50 billion dollar companies bring in (and we have many of them), the nationally recognized blue ribbon schools their property taxes enable, lower cost of living from sane tax burden, and much lower unemployment, it's also the middle class working person that's laughing all the way to the bank here in Texas.
BobTheNerd is right and other states could learn from TX and WA's successful tax formula. That is high property taxes combined with low income and sales taxes.
The reason liberals don't like it is because it forces them to either work or leave the state.
We hear it over and over again here in Washington State...people have to pay their "fair share" when it comes to taxes. See, we have no income tax and the sales tax is at the top of what can be borne (9.5%). So the calls for additional revenue come from fees, levies, special bonds and business taxes as well as mau-mauing the Federal government for funding (which comes from our income tax, though no one seems to admit that!)
However, in doing some research I noticed that here in Washington State we really don't pay that much property tax. Less than 1% in fact. We have a state initiative somewhat like Prop 13 that says that property tax can only be raised by so much across a county...individual properties can be reassessed, but in toto the tax is limited (I think that's what it says, it's very confusing).
Here's the thing...while the High Mucky Muck's of the Democrat Party will always push for taxes on income or sales, they never, ever mention raising property tax rates! And while they fight initiatives like the one requiring a 2/3rd majority for the state legislature to raise tax, they have never, to my knowledge, have fought for raising property taxes and against any limitations thereof.
Meanwhile, I contrasted WA with Texas which has no income tax, and a mild 6.5% sales tax, but has an average property tax of 2% -- so "conservative" Texas and Rick Perry has twice the property tax of "liberal" Washington which is owned lock stock and barrel by Liberals!!
Could it be that Liberals are not who they say they are? Are they really just a form of Monarchy, people with land and assets who only want to tax the productive people? You can guess my opinion.
State By State Map of Property Tax Rates:
#politics