NY-ers: Get behind the push to cap property tax (real estate, home)

[smalltownusa]

OK the new governor is trying again to cap our property taxes and institute a program called circuit breaker which stops your taxes from rising above a certain percentage of your income.....unions fight fiercely to stop this each time it comes up but with everything else skyrocketing and no end in view, we have to start putting a halt on the bottomless pit called public education. And if you think I'm speaking out of turn, I work for a public school and personally SEE the waste that goes on.

Do not let this fizzle out. We are taxed 79 percent higher than the rest of the United States and many of us can not afford it anymore and it will only get worse. If you think people are jumping a sinking ship called NY now, let the dominoe effect of rising gas prices take a firm hold on our economy and the exodus will increase a hundred fold. We have carried the weight of this state squarely on the back of the middle class and that back is in jeporady of snapping in two.

Stand up and be heard!

[garmin239]

I saw that the education unions were against it. Thats all I needed to read. I support it.

[Jansu]

Isn't our high tax rate a reflection of our medicaid burden-- something to do with our relationship to the federal government uniquely structured for NY. Can someone explain this to me?

[CaliBoy]

I'd support you if I lived there. I've also seen and heard testimony about the waste that goes on in public education as well. Though I'd hate to cut spending there, efficiency standards must be increased. And that's not just NY, but all over the country. Since educating children are involved, it's tough to speak out and not get bashed. However, spending in the public educational system should be eyeballed a bit closer.

Nonetheless, a cap on property taxes is something I would support considering what I have heard regarding expense living in NY. Forgive my speaking out of turn... I am not as informed as others living there. But I sympathize.

Good luck, NY.

[smalltownusa]

Originally Posted by Jansu

Isn't our high tax rate a reflection of our medicaid burden-- something to do with our relationship to the federal government uniquely structured for NY. Can someone explain this to me?

Have not heard about a medicaid connection but I do know we some of the most generous welfare services in the country and then there's that city on the eastern point of the state that we support liberally with our upstate tax dollars. Another bone of contention with NYers and an often discussed solution is annexing NYC from the state and making it the District of NY....bet that would lower our tax waste!

[archtopguitar]

Cap ! its needs to be reduced by 1/2 to 2/3rd's and then capped. we live in western NC and often think of moving back home to N Y State, then we look at Real estate. How can anyone purchase a middle Class home and sign themselves up for 4 to 5K + of taxes per year. Property taxes have killed the upstate economy.

[tambre]

Originally Posted by archtopguitar

Cap ! its needs to be reduced by 1/2 to 2/3rd's and then capped. we live in western NC and often think of moving back home to N Y State, then we look at Real estate. How can anyone purchase a middle Class home and sign themselves up for 4 to 5K + of taxes per year. Property taxes have killed the upstate economy.

Try twice that, $8,000 to $12,000 in middle class surburbia in the hudson valley, and the average income is not able to support this kind of tax burden. I don't blame welfare or the educational system, I blame the greedy corporations, and the top executives who are receiving outrageous salaries, fully paid health benefits, business tax incentives, luxury item write-offs, and other perks! The middle class are being forced to pay outlandish amounts for health benefits, property taxes, and many jobs are now "part-time", so they don't have to even offer health benefits. I'm very pro union because of this.

In the war of the haves and havenots, in NY, the haves are going to wake up one day, and there will be no service people left to build their McMansions, warm up their limos, or clean their pools. It will be so, so sad for them.

But on the bright side, maybe the rampant materialism with fade and people will be less interested in things and more interested in self-reliance and a strong community.