Being relocated to Kansas City and we don’t know anything about it! (Weaubleau: sales tax, restaurant)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by empires228

And we have far better roads to show for it. I-70 in MO is just as bad as any road in Oklahoma in quite a few places, and roads in east Jackson County are just awful between KCMO and Independence. Even with our states budget problems, it's still worth paying the extra gas tax for the better roads.

Not really. Not really at all.

First off, outside of JoCo and the turnpike, the roads in KS are pretty crappy.

The interstates in MO are fine. I have driven between KC and StL twice this year and I-70 and also drove from KC to Little Rock via I-49 also this year. I didn't notice any problems at all with 70 or 49. They were smooth and uneventful. I drove from DC to KC twice this year and didn't notice Missouri having any worse roads than any other state.

That's not to say MO interstates are not way past their lifetimes. The concrete under the relatively smooth asphalt is in desperate need of replacement which will cost billions. Also, many of Missouri's bridges also need replaced. However, the KC and especially the STL area are in pretty good shape.

WyCo and most other counties in KS outside of JoCo have major problems areas just like the roads you mentioned in Independence.

Having said that, MO voters needs to raise their gas tax so MoDot can spend some money rebuilding roads and bridges. MO has one of the largest road systems and number of bridges percapita in the country and one of the lowest gas taxes. It's amazing the roads in MO and are as good as they are.

Far better roads is a total exaggeration. KS and MO roads are about the same. I will say that local roads in JoCo are meticulously maintained, but it's similar in similar areas of the MO suburbs (and suburban StL) where you have a solid local tax base. So while western Independence has seen better days, the Northland is really starting to build up a nice arterial and boulevard road network. Just like schools. You can't just compare overland park to Indpedence, otherwise, why can't we compare Lee's Summit to KCK?

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by empires228

And we have far better roads to show for it. I-70 in MO is just as bad as any road in Oklahoma in quite a few places, and roads in east Jackson County are just awful between KCMO and Independence. Even with our states budget problems, it's still worth paying the extra gas tax for the better roads.

You really want to get into the debate of who's taxes are "worth paying"? By that token, Sweden gets a lot of crap for super high taxes, but most Swedes claim that it's worth it.

My point is, we're getting into a whole separate ball of wax when this question comes up.

[brooksider2brooklyn]

Lol at Kansas getting more in return for taxes. Kansas has no real state parks system that anybody cares about while Missouri has an excellent parks system used by millions of Missourians and tourists including Kansans.

I work out of Wichita and St Louis several times a year through my job and let me tell you, the roads are not better in Kansas. Once you leave Jo County, I actually think the roads are worse.

Kansas public schools and social services are woefully underfunded.

Kansas doesn't have any transit to speak of and very few attractions which are often funded with sales taxes.

The cities in Kansas outside of Jo County are in terrible condition.

MO side residents get way more in return with be a lower tax burden.

KS side residents get lots of corporate wellfare though!

[Mikkieapple]

Originally Posted by SPonteKC

NE Johnson County, areas like Westwood and Westwood Hills or Fairway would be my top choice. Also, Prairie Village and “Old Leawood”. Good, easy acces to the city, leafy, mature, inner ring suburbs with good parks and pools and stuff. Not much like that on the Missouri side, Old Briarcliff is pretty charming, if a little isolated. It’s still very close to downtown and North Kansas City, which is increasingly interesting and fun. Beyond those, the newer suburbs are largely indistinguishable from one another. Just depends on where you want to locate in the metro.

If you’ve never lived in the Midwest, KC is pretty much midwestern, ne plus ultra. It is nothing like Seattle, in any way I can think of. It’s a little like Denver before Denver got so popular, but with a more industrial, gritty side. It’s urban core is fairly small, has pockets of activity concentrated in neighborhood nodes with pretty big stretches of inactivity and some blight between them. It has way more ghetto, both culturally and geographically than Denver and Seattle put together, and some parts of the city are legitimately unsafe, especially at night, though much less than hysterics would have you believe. The suburban hinterlands of the city are moderately conservative to outright right-wing. The urban core is probably about as liberal as the average Seattle suburban enclave. People talk openly about politics regularly and don’t mind disagreeing or having an argument about them over dinner. A family needs at least one car, probably 2 to live comfortably anywhere outside the urban core here. The weather is obviously more extreme than Seattle, if more pleasant as well, in a lot of ways. The city is beautiful, cool, and full of good food, good art, real people, and cool stuff for a small city. It’s very culturally centered on families and children. The countryside is dominated by farmland, public natural areas are comparatively scarce. If you constantly talk about how everything was better in Seattle, everyone will agree with you to your face, then we will all laugh about what a snob you are behind your back.

I LOVE this! Thank you! None of this sounds like a problem for us. We are honestly very happy to leave Seattle. We are not big city people, and definitely not left wing. Though we don’t get involved in political discussions here, because people get very offended. We are excited for smaller, less hectic suburban life. So it sounds right up our alley!

[Mikkieapple]

Originally Posted by moxiegal

Leawood would be a bit out of the $400,000.00 range wouldn't it? PV is more affordable, and more open and personable to the working family.

Our budget is $400,000-$550,00. Would that get us something there?

[empires228]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Not really. Not really at all.

First off, outside of JoCo and the turnpike, the roads in KS are pretty crappy.

The interstates in MO are fine. I have driven between KC and StL twice this year and I-70 and also drove from KC to Little Rock via I-49 also this year. I didn't notice any problems at all with 70 or 49. They were smooth and uneventful. I drove from DC to KC twice this year and didn't notice Missouri having any worse roads than any other state.

That's not to say MO interstates are not way past their lifetimes. The concrete under the relatively smooth asphalt is in desperate need of replacement which will cost billions. Also, many of Missouri's bridges also need replaced. However, the KC and especially the STL area are in pretty good shape.

WyCo and most other counties in KS outside of JoCo have major problems areas just like the roads you mentioned in Independence.

Having said that, MO voters needs to raise their gas tax so MoDot can spend some money rebuilding roads and bridges. MO has one of the largest road systems and number of bridges percapita in the country and one of the lowest gas taxes. It's amazing the roads in MO and are as good as they are.

Far better roads is a total exaggeration. KS and MO roads are about the same. I will say that local roads in JoCo are meticulously maintained, but it's similar in similar areas of the MO suburbs (and suburban StL) where you have a solid local tax base. So while western Independence has seen better days, the Northland is really starting to build up a nice arterial and boulevard road network. Just like schools. You can't just compare overland park to Indpedence, otherwise, why can't we compare Lee's Summit to KCK?

Where have you been in the state recently to make that statement? I drive quite a bit for work and school on a weekly basis during the summer and am frequently in KC, Lawrence, Salina, and Wichita during the other nine months. I admit that I haven't set foot in SEKS in years and it could be a complete disaster down there, but having been to Liberal, Atchison, St. Francis, and Wellington in recent months it's not l don't have a pretty comprehensive idea of what condition KS roads are in and how they compare to years past. Wichita, Topeka, and KCK have some bad residential roads in the poorest areas, but every city is like that. I've never had any issues on their freeways or thoroughfares.

P.S. comparing KCK and Lee's Summit isn't even close to being the equivalent of comparing OP to Independence and you know that.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by Mikkieapple

Our budget is $400,000-$550,00. Would that get us something there?

In numerous subdivisions of Prairie Village, this wouldn't be an issue right now.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

You're comparing Johnson County to KCMO proper. If Lee's Summit is a strong option for the OP, none of your advice applies.

Well they are still paying the e tax if they work in KCMO, and if they are shopping in KCMO they will still be paying the sales tax. If they stick to shopping in LS it will be less (~8%). All the other taxes also apply - personal, property and groceries.

And I wasn’t necessarily comparing JOCO taxes favorably to MO taxes. I was comparing more KC metro taxes to Western WA where they are coming from.

LS would be a viable option as well.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Well they are still paying the e tax if they work in KCMO, and if they are shopping in KCMO they will still be paying the sales tax. If they stick to shopping in LS it will be less (~8%). All the other taxes also apply - personal, property and groceries.

And I wasn’t necessarily comparing JOCO taxes favorably to MO taxes. I was comparing more KC metro taxes to Western WA where they are coming from.

LS would be a viable option as well.

That's fine, but in your post that I was responding to, you only mentioned "Kansas City" taxes, referring to KCMO. You were simply comparing KCMO and JoCo. This, despite the fact that the OP had not boiled down her options to an A-or-B option between KCMO proper and JoCo.

[westender]

Originally Posted by Alpha_Dog

The six percent property tax ++ in MO seems outrageous. And 11% sales tax in Platte County should be a Felony.

I was shopping the other day in the south Plaza area, and was surprised to see a 8.6% sales tax rate in effect.

It might be helpful if we could list out KC metro shopping neighborhoods by effective sales tax burden.

Plaza (and general KCMO) is 8.6%
Downtown is 12.6% (extra TIFs for streetcar and cleaning crews)
Crossroads is 9.6%
Zona Rosa is 11%
JoCo is 7.5%

Anyplace in the metro with a sales tax rate 5% or less?