[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

LMAO, I've NEVER paid personal property tax on my furniture, clothes or anything else except for car!! I don't know where you live but if your county assessor is coming into your home and making you pay taxes on everything else then I think you're being conned!

thought someone would catch that one...hubby and I were discussing this a few minutes ago, he wanted to know the name of the person who put a value on our clothes and furniture: how bout the food in our freezer.??

Nita

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by nmnita

thought someone would catch that one...hubby and I were discussing this a few minutes ago, he wanted to know the name of the person who put a value on our clothes and furniture: how bout the food in our freezer.??

Nita

LOL, for all I know maybe we're supposed to pay taxes on all that too but there's nothing that compells one to do it! I don't have pay taxes on that to keep my car licensed or my home deeded in my name or anything. Obviously, I DO have to pay my personal property tax on my vehicle's assessed value to keep it tagged. But geez... I think it's like $200 or so for our two vehicles. Maybe I didn't have to pay this in other states but the $150 per year tag and title fees sure made up the difference!!!! People can't seem to understand that. You get it coming or going and sometimes the REAL cost of all this stuff in other states is buried somewhere else. If what I paid in taxes in MD is any indication of what is required to have baby's butt smooth roads then I'm pretty happy with what we have!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

LOL, for all I know maybe we're supposed to pay taxes on all that too but there's nothing that compells one to do it! I don't have pay taxes on that to keep my car licensed or my home deeded in my name or anything. Obviously, I DO have to pay my personal property tax on my vehicle's assessed value to keep it tagged. But geez... I think it's like $200 or so for our two vehicles. Maybe I didn't have to pay this in other states but the $150 per year tag and title fees sure made up the difference!!!! People can't seem to understand that. You get it coming or going and sometimes the REAL cost of all this stuff in other states is buried somewhere else. If what I paid in taxes in MD is any indication of what is required to have baby's butt smooth roads then I'm pretty happy with what we have!

of course we are supposed to pay on everything, I am honest enough to be sure to report this to the county or someone in the next day or so. You mention the tags, in Calif we paid almost $200 for my tags on a 1980 Buick Skylark, that was in 1980 or 81. The following year we were in Va and the same: I don't remember the amount, but I do know we paid tag and title costs each year. It was really high...It seems on one car it was close to $300 and it wasn't new, maybe that was for 2. people do not understand each state calls these things something different but basically they are all the same: a way of getting tax money from us...Like you, I am not complaining but trying to make others realize everywhere is the same. I do know AR is in the top 10 states in the country for taxes but then if you look at the list you find, there is practically no difference from number 1 to number 50. Well not really but little difference. Each of us needs to understand without taxes we have few services. Beleive me, we moved from a state with low taxes except for income and we had horrible police protection, fire protection, really bad roads, you name it.

Nita

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by nmnita

of course we are supposed to pay on everything, I am honest enough to be sure to report this to the county or someone in the next day or so. You mention the tags, in Calif we paid almost $200 for my tags on a 1980 Buick Skylark, that was in 1980 or 81. The following year we were in Va and the same: I don't remember the amount, but I do know we paid tag and title costs each year. It was really high...It seems on one car it was close to $300 and it wasn't new, maybe that was for 2. people do not understand each state calls these things something different but basically they are all the same: a way of getting tax money from us...Like you, I am not complaining but trying to make others realize everywhere is the same. I do know AR is in the top 10 states in the country for taxes but then if you look at the list you find, there is practically no difference from number 1 to number 50. Well not really but little difference. Each of us needs to understand without taxes we have few services. Beleive me, we moved from a state with low taxes except for income and we had horrible police protection, fire protection, really bad roads, you name it.

Nita

Yep, I hear you. At least AR is gracious enough to call most everything a tax instead of trying to hide it by naming it a usage fee or something else.

Our interstates used to be MUCH worse than they are now. I remember a time when driving on I-40, I'd NEVER get into the right lane because it was so rough. A major problem is all of the truck traffic that comes through the state on 40. We should probably enforce a higher tax on diesel to get the real culprits to pay for their part.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

Yep, I hear you. At least AR is gracious enough to call most everything a tax instead of trying to hide it by naming it a usage fee or something else.

Our interstates used to be MUCH worse than they are now. I remember a time when driving on I-40, I'd NEVER get into the right lane because it was so rough. A major problem is all of the truck traffic that comes through the state on 40. We should probably enforce a higher tax on diesel to get the real culprits to pay for their part.

Hey, how about suggesting that to Beebe? Do you think he woud listen? Do I have his named spelled correctly or is it Bebee?

Nita

[PurpleLove08]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Hey, how about suggesting that to Beebe? Do you think he woud listen? Do I have his named spelled correctly or is it Bebee?

Nita

Beebe

I'm not sure if it just takes him a while or what but I certainly wrote him a letter and it's taken him a while.
At least the Senators and Representatives I write respond.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

We should probably enforce a higher tax on diesel to get the real culprits to pay for their part.

Whoaa, hoss.

We eat a *lot* of diesel fuel on my hill, and nobody's tearing up roads.

Hayfields, yes. Roads, no.

It's easy, and the gubberment knows it, to jack up diesel fuel, which now has a *higher tax than gasoline*, because truckers have no choice to pay it, then pass the cost along in the shipping charges. Thats' why they jacked the tax on diesel fuel.

This whole fuel..petroleum thing is out of hand enough.

The cost diffrence between off-road (farm fuel) and on-road is almost non-existent now, and just as trucking firms are going out of business, so are farm services.

Fertilizer, a petroleum product, is now about $500 a ton. A ton does about 5 acres, depending. Average hay field around here is 100 acres. It's *got* to be done at least once a year. No fertilizer...no hay. No hay...no cattle. No cattle..no cheeseburgers or juicy steaks. Do the math.

If you looked at the stats on what the cost raises were between last years picnic and this years, it's been draged through every news show in existance, you'll see hot dogs up 16%, buns up 20-whatever%, and then you get to beef......1%.

One single percent. I dare you to even name one other thing that's only gone up one percent. That sure ain't because it's getting cheaper to raise cattle. Grain costs, fertilizer costs, diesel fuel....all *way* up. The return at auction just ain't there right now.

I've had third generation farmers tell me, "I can take about one more year of this, then I'm done....there ain't no more".

I'm just pointing out, Stormcrow, that you are right, it's the heavy trucks that damage the roads the most, and there should be an equitable way of recovering that expense. Since the boys in Washington have already done what you suggest, lets do something that isn't going to hurt the rest of us.

But taxing diesel fuel ain't it. It runs mine and every other tractor in this state (unless you were the *one* person to buy a gas tractor), and that's used for "production of food or fiber" as they put it on the tax exempt forms we gotta sign every time we buy a bolt or a nut.

No more diesel tax, please.

Butterfly effect.

Food for thought.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by RogMar

Whoaa, hoss.

We eat a *lot* of diesel fuel on my hill, and nobody's tearing up roads.

Hayfields, yes. Roads, no.

It's easy, and the gubberment knows it, to jack up diesel fuel, which now has a *higher tax than gasoline*, because truckers have no choice to pay it, then pass the cost along in the shipping charges. Thats' why they jacked the tax on diesel fuel.

This whole fuel..petroleum thing is out of hand enough.

The cost diffrence between off-road (farm fuel) and on-road is almost non-existent now, and just as trucking firms are going out of business, so are farm services.

Fertilizer, a petroleum product, is now about $500 a ton. A ton does about 5 acres, depending. Average hay field around here is 100 acres. It's *got* to be done at least once a year. No fertilizer...no hay. No hay...no cattle. No cattle..no cheeseburgers or juicy steaks. Do the math.

If you looked at the stats on what the cost raises were between last years picnic and this years, it's been draged through every news show in existance, you'll see hot dogs up 16%, buns up 20-whatever%, and then you get to beef......1%.

One single percent. I dare you to even name one other thing that's only gone up one percent. That sure ain't because it's getting cheaper to raise cattle. Grain costs, fertilizer costs, diesel fuel....all *way* up. The return at auction just ain't there right now.

I've had third generation farmers tell me, "I can take about one more year of this, then I'm done....there ain't no more".

I'm just pointing out, Stormcrow, that you are right, it's the heavy trucks that damage the roads the most, and there should be an equitable way of recovering that expense. Since the boys in Washington have already done what you suggest, lets do something that isn't going to hurt the rest of us.

But taxing diesel fuel ain't it. It runs mine and every other tractor in this state (unless you were the *one* person to buy a gas tractor), and that's used for "production of food or fiber" as they put it on the tax exempt forms we gotta sign every time we buy a bolt or a nut.

No more diesel tax, please.

Butterfly effect.

Food for thought.

Well, you're very right and I really should have thought of that since I did grow up on a cattle farm.

[luvarkansas]

Rog.....what about switching to grass-fed? I'm sure you are aware of the rising interest in organic eating, and I know there is already at least one grass-fed cattle farm somewhere around Alma, I think it was. They say it tastes better and is healthier to boot. That would cut down on haying, grain for feed, etc. Just a thought, may not be feasible for you.

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by luvarkansas

Rog.....what about switching to grass-fed? I'm sure you are aware of the rising interest in organic eating, and I know there is already at least one grass-fed cattle farm somewhere around Alma, I think it was. They say it tastes better and is healthier to boot. That would cut down on haying, grain for feed, etc. Just a thought, may not be feasible for you.

I'm the only one here without cattle, but I help in the hay harvest. People kind of get covered up around that time.

Here's the deal with grass fed beef....yes it's a trend. Key word, "trend".

It costs a lot more for grass fed beef, on the consumer end, and is cheaper to produce.

Then you get into the flip side, and that is that it doesn't taste like beef that you're used to, and it can't be prepared like the beef that you're used to.

I've had grass fed beef, and I won't have it again. I have nothing against people who want it, yes it's supposed to be healthier for you, but I'm losing something in the translation of I sell a cow that hasn't been fed grain directly to a butcher, for a non-grain fed price, which is lower than one finished out, and then you pay 40-60% *more* for it than a finished product.

The way most beef production works is that the cow eats grass for the majority of it's diet until it's ready to be harvested, then it's switched to grain.

If I'm raising cattle, and I don't want to have a big grain expense, I can sell to a 'feed lot' via auction or direct, which will then take the cattle through the last stages of preparation.

Hay is grass. It's grass, usually fescue, that is harvested in the summer, so it can be fed to them in the winter when the grass isn't growing.

Here's the rub......in the parts of AR that has good soil, they use it by raising cotton or rice.

These parts, the Ozarks, as with some others have terrible soil, called "loam soil", that has almost no nutrients, and a PH of about 5.5.

So once every 7 years, ya get a soil sample and meander down to the ag extension office, tell them what you want to grow, and they send back a plan.

Every 7 years, because agricultural lime has got to be applied then to correct the PH, and then you can get the fertilizer reccomendation.

Then you fertilize every spring, and maybe fall, so you can grow the grass, which becomes hay.

In relation to costs (jeeeeez...is he*ever* gonna shut up?), which is what we originally talked about, the fescue grows, and then forms a seed head. That seed head has got to be harvested for fall re-seeding, with a combine, then the grass is cut, allowed to dry, and put in rows, then a baler (or two or three) comes through and bales it.

So that's seed cut/gather.....grass cut/dry/gather......once or twice *more* during the summer for 2 or 3 total cuts, then re-seed in September, and fertilize in March.

Not to mention spraying with 2,4-D so it's not a weed field.

My friend, you cannot fathom the diesel cost on that for just one season.

Add that to a $20,000 fertilizer bill, and you can see why I went for a new box of 'pampers' when Stormcrow mentioned raising diesel tax.