h a l f b a k e r yThis ain't rocket surgery.
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...not the amount of property they own. I cannot understand why I pay over $6000 a year in school taxes even though I have no children. Yet, the parents that have 6 children and RENT a house don't pay a dime!!!!!???? I ask you, IS THIS FAIR? They want kids...let them pay for the buses, the drivers,
the schools, the teachers, etc. I am so sick of this...and the fact that they get a BREAK on their federal taxes also!!!! It's just not right!!!! My career requires me to own land. Walmart workers are not required to own land so they don't have this added tax burden. Why should farm owners be taxed heavily because we have chosen a profession that requires land? It is the most stupid thing in the world, discrimination against farmers! If they must tax property owners, the tax should be based on the number of square feet in the home, not the number of acres owned. The number of square feet in a home is a more true indication of wealth than acres owned.
Useful (?) discussion of U.S. property taxes
http://www.polsci.w...html/mon4chap2.html
The finest prose stylists and graphic artists in the entire field of economics came together to craft this document. I give you... "Property Taxes in West Virginia". [Monkfish, Feb 08 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Property Taxes
http://www1.worldba...ation/topic07.3.htm
General, useful, international page on the subject. [Monkfish, Feb 08 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]
ZPG
http://www.zpg.org
why a tax per kid might be a good idea. [mrthingy, Feb 08 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Jutta might laugh
http://www.eng.as.fvsu.edu/swift.htm
MazzyStar will probably stroke chin thoughtfully and think, "Hmm. Good idea." [friendlyfire, Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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Farming's not so bad. Imagine working at WalMart. I hear you have to have six kids before they even accept your resume. |
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Various wild and wacky ways of raising taxes have been tried over the ages. Taxing people according to the area their house occupied was once tried in Amsterdam, with the result that it is now full of tall thin buildings. In England in the middle ages, a Window Tax was introduced - you were taxed simply on the number of windows in your abode. This resulted in a lot of windows being boarded up and people living in very dark houses with lots of doors. |
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Quantity of land owned, is a nice easy measurable indication of wealth. The taxes may seem high if, like yourself, you live off the land, but if there were no taxes on it, speculation together with supply/demand would mean the price would skyrocket. Getting into farming would become almost impossible, as land would get bought up and left fallow in the hope the price would increase. |
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The taxes you pay, are passed on in the price at which you sell on your produce, effectively taxing people according to the number of mouths they have. Not far from what you originally suggested. |
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Junior is not the only beneficiary of Junior's education. |
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Property taxes aren't usually based on the quantity of land owned these days, but on a guess at the value of the property. (The former is the oldest sort of property tax and doesn't take productivity into account; as a result, it's been fingered as a cause of decreases in the amount of land under cultivation (in the late Roman empire, for instance), and is pretty unfair generally.) |
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There's plenty of talk about the negative effects of property taxes which tax value, too, though, particularly with respect to farmers. But then again, a balanced look at all the taxes paid by farmers and various direct and indirect government subsidies they receive (all over the developed world) will tend to change this view of farmers as victims of high taxes. Which is not to say that it's an easy occupation or anything like that. |
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(PeterSealy, having a vote doesn't mean having to quietly accept everything your government does and nor does is ensure that "the system" is fair. Part of the deal is the right to lobby the government and fellow citizens like Susen is doing.) |
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Oh, and I agree with beauxeault. |
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Having given up a part time position as a college professor to do the farm thing full time...I can say with all honesty that Junior isn't getting an education. College students can't complete a full sentence these days. I had one young "lady" insist she had never heard of a "pronoun antecedent". Most were happy with the Cs and Ds they earned. I also live in the county with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the state....if only I could earmark my $6000 a year for BCPs, condoms, and a good sex education class. BTW, I do have children...they just all have four legs...
What is sad is do you realize how many books I could buy a year for $6000????| — | Susen,
Feb 08 2001, last modified Feb 10 2001 |
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Wow, Susan, education must really be poorly funded in your area. When I finish mine, and actually have money, perhaps I'll donate some money to such places' education funds to actually pay good teachers. There aren't many. I'd say about one in ten to one in fifteen teachers is truly good at the job. People aren't getting stupider. The problem is the reduction in emphasis on education.
By the way, I wasn't aware that pronoun antecedants could be entire questions. |
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Pronoun antecedant? Is that something you take when you're feeling bilious? |
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One of the responsibilities of
citizens in a democratic society
is to make decisions about things
which are larger than their own
lives. As such, they would do
well to be educated on topics
which may not actually pertain to
their job, to develop generalized
analysis, reasoning and
communications skills, and to have
a sense of the history that
precedes them. Basic English
grammar and vocabulary is
certainly part of that education. |
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Furthermore, fewer and fewer jobs
are of the sort where you just
need to soak up some specialized
training and "turn the crank"
until you retire. |
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Tsk, tsk, Peter. Trying to prove that there is "British humour"? :-P |
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[beauxeault] "Junior is not the only beneficiary of Junior's education." |
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Exactly. If you want a good country, you need everyone to be well-educated. That won't happen if the guy with six kids has to pay for everything while you avoid all educational costs but reap the benefits of his kids doing good work when they get older. |
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But it should all be federal tax, not property tax. Tax people by how much they can afford to pay, not how much land they have. |
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Taxation without Representation. |
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Also, Susen, when you're old and decrepit and can't farm any more, who exactly is paying your way then? I think that as long as, overall, your cost to society and your demands on society balance out, that's the best that can happen. |
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Enough of this crap. Taxing people based on the number of yardage, feet, windows, coins, jewels, SUV's etc... this nonsense has to stop. |
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Just because some of us bust our butts and earn more money than the vast majority of breeders out there, it is not justified to penalize us and take more. Tax based on wealth WILL ALWAYS BE UNFAIR. You know it, I know it, the BANKS know it... yet we still endure the idiot parade of whiners that squawk about the "common good" sharing concept. |
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If Johnie's parents cannot afford to educate him, let some bleeding-heart, liberal / socio-crat sign up to offer their coins for his lessons. I do not have offspring and do not plan to produce any. And, if I did, I would not expect anyone but me to educate the poor sap. |
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Why not start a fund to "EDUCATE" these helpless parents from producing so many excess humans? Has anyone ever thought about that? Mister poor man... do you REALLY need 6 kids? Do you really need ANY kids for that matter? Are you that lonely, bored, egotistical, etc? Why must you make more people? If you are so lame that you cannot create the wealth required to educate your own replicas, maybe you should not be making any more humans. |
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I have determined that it is typically the poor or needy who are always looking for a hand-out or for assistance from other sources other than themselves. Perhaps they have simply resigned to the fact that they do not have the ability to make anything of themselves and to always ask for help...pretty pathetic. They feel they "deserve" something. In fact, regarding the school tax issue, I got into an arugment with a low-paid employee who claimed that I should pay for school taxes and it should be based on my home price! Easy for her to say, she lives in an apartment and does NOT pay property taxes. She claims that it is for the betterment of society.. what a joke! Where is her $5,000.00 a year to help those little kiddies. What is even worse, is that I live in an area with thousands of non-English speaking kids. So, my money is paying for Hispanic kids to learn English. Or, even worse, teaching the English speaking to speak other languages. I think if this person with whom I had an argement actually worked her ass off like I did to get a college degree and actually make a bit of money and own property, she would not be so willing to give that hard earned money away.. but wait a minute, she gives away none of her money.. only wants a handout! What is even worse, is that I have to pay taxes in a county in which I do not live.. they just group it all together. How fair is that! The more you make of yourself, the more you get screwed. What motivation do poor people have? None! Have more babies and get more assistance. Get poorer and we will even pay for your living expenses. Get sick and we will pay your bill. Hey, sounds pretty good.:) |
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