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If you honestly believe that taxes are "out of control" in SC, you obviously have never lived anywhere else. Our property taxes are laughably low compared to the rest of the country, and the overall tax burden is consistently on the lower end compared to other states.
Honestly, the leadership of Columbia made a criminal mistake letting SCANA out of their obligation to run the bus system, but what's done is done, and it is completely unacceptable for a metro area of this size to have no functioning public transportation.
What's your point, that's the only good thing South Carolina has going for it, so lets raise taxes.
Those are some fancy assumptions, you assume I would be taking a loss, rather than making a profit or at least breaking even.
No, I am keeping everything neutral except the tax effect since that seems to be your reason for being unhappy. I think it is funny that someone would move and incur those expenses to save 250 annually.
I agree - we'd have terrific mass transit if we directed the money there instead of to roads.
Well the buses have to run on roads. It can't be an either/or scenario. A skeleton of a bus system is bad enough, but roads literally crumbling is magnitudes worse.
No, I am keeping everything neutral except the tax effect since that seems to be your reason for being unhappy. I think it is funny that someone would move and incur those expenses to save 250 annually.
If you want to incur thousands in expense to save 250, I have some things to sell, send me your number. If you have built in gains, that is a separate analysis. But, based on what you said here about the tax, your logic makes no sense.
Well the buses have to run on roads. It can't be an either/or scenario. A skeleton of a bus system is bad enough, but roads literally crumbling is magnitudes worse.
True, but NEW roads don't need to be built. I'd rather see more dense, in-town development than the sprawl generated by new roads. Even better would be light rail!
True, but NEW roads don't need to be built. I'd rather see more dense, in-town development than the sprawl generated by new roads. Even better would be light rail!
I don't think the density is yet there for light rail, but commuter rail would be worth exploring.
Too many question marks about where the money would go and how it would be spent for me to support this proposal: Richland County’s penny sales tax proposal: $148 million in projects aren’t clear yet - Elections - TheState.com If I lived in Columbia, I would vote no. Why should a woman who chose to live on a dirt road/private driveway get some of the money for paving it baffles me. Going off the comments at the bottom of the article, it sounds like I am not alone.
I read in The State paper Sunday that the estimated tax increase for a family of 3 would be $253 per year. I have a family of 6, including young children who need a lot of groceries, diapers, and clothes, the vast majority of which we purchase here in Richland County. So let's say our tax increase would be $500 per year. If I voted yes to the penny tax, I would be voting myself a monthly payment of over $40 per month for the next 20+ years. Why should I agree to that, especially since I don't have any assurances on exactly how the money is going to be spent? If gas prices do rise astronomically, that may indeed lead many more people to want to use the bus system, but the rise in gas prices will also drive up the price of other goods, thereby increasing the tax burden on people. Why not have a more modest tax proposal? For example, why couldn't the County introduce a tax effective for a shorter time period (say, 2-5 years), specifically allocated for a few urgent projects that will have the most impact on residents? Then, if the projects are successful, voters may be more likely to fund additional projects. It just seems like the County is asking us to trust them with a lot of money for a long time.
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