My town is taxing me on my possessions? (Newton, Brewster: section 8, insurance)

[Cape Cod Todd]

A guy with a clip board from the town of Brewster just came into my office and told me he was here to make note of our office equipment so the town can tax us on it. This is a real thorn in my side. Didn't we already pay tax at the point of purchase?? Normally I would have told him nicely to go away but he was already inside. He made note of how many chairs, tables computers etc.. that we have. He also made note of the ages of the stuff so he can depreciate it with the electronics being the most heavily depreciated. He didn't know when but someday soon we will be recieving a tax bill in the mail for our office stuff. I know this has been going on for some time but come on.
We have some nice pieces here including some antiques and the way I understand it we will be penalised for having taste. If we had crappy folding metal chairs and card tables we wouldn't be hit so hard with this tax.
I also got a letter in the mail that they need to enter my residence to take stock and if they don't get in then they will make a estimate.
Last year I lined one side of my driveway with small boulders and guess what someone saw it and we got taxed on the "improvement". If my house looked like butt I wouldn't have to pay more tax.

There is a smell of Revolution in the air.

Has anyone else had the taxman come to their door to tax things you already payed taxes on?

[wheelz]

It's personal property tax, every business pays it. I'm with you entirely, though.

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

There is a smell of Revolution in the air.

But, i rather doubt you and your neighbors will revolt. You have to start at the ballot box. If you keep voting in folks that want your money then meh!

Also, why not leave? Many nicer state to consider that don't treat you a a checkbook.

The power is in your hands, use it or stay quiet.

[495neighbor]

The state can legally do this even if you are a solo d/b/a type business only working part-time. I hear from others most cities put a low valuation on the belongings so the tax is small similar to that on vehicles. Since you have an office outside your residence, I don't understand though why they are evaluating property tax on both the commercial and residential spaces. Or is the tax assessment on your home for improvements?

[miu]

Wow. How long have you lived in Brewster? I just visited your town's website and there is indeed a "personal property tax" taxing the contents of ones home. That's both shocking and crazy.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

Originally Posted by miu

Wow. How long have you lived in Brewster? I just visited your town's website and there is indeed a "personal property tax" taxing the contents of ones home. That's both shocking and crazy.

I've never heard of such a thing either

[Pear Martini]

I moved to MA with a civic I had already paid for in Florida and I still have to pay over $150 in taxes per year not including all of the tolls here to keep it. I live off of $100 a week besides rent. This is ridiculous I'm a broke college student and I'm paying out the butt.

The taxes here are ridiculous and meanwhile it seems like everyone here who didn't go to college is on section 8, WIC, foodstamps, or something else. I'm going to guess around 20-25% of people in MA are on government benefits while hardworking broke students who are going in to debt are paying for it.

[miu]

What year and trim level is your civic? It might be less expensive to sell your car and use the Zipcar service instead if and when you need a car.

My 94 Civic's yearly excise tax bill in Newton has been $25 for most of its life with me. Even when I bought it used for $12,500 in 1995, the excise tax was well under a $100 annually.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

Originally Posted by miu

What year and trim level is your civic? It might be less expensive to sell your car and use the Zipcar service instead if and when you need a car.

My 94 Civic's yearly excise tax bill in Newton has been $25 for most of its life with me. Even when I bought it used for $12,500 in 1995, the excise tax was well under a $100 annually.

My husband paid more tax on his 2002 Sunfire than he does on his now new-to-him '99 Toyota. It lowered our insurance rate significantly too.

[Cape Cod Todd]

I do vote, just did this past Tuesday in a special election but for some reason my fellow m*******s don't get it and they keep voting the same people in and expect a different result. Moving is not an option due to family and a business.
Don't get me going on excise I pay my share including on the boat trailer. My 2 cars are 10 and 12 years old so the rate is way down but I'm still paying over $100 for the 3.
Mass. does need to get its head out of its butt. There are so many scandals, the latest ongoing is thousands of missing EBT cards that the state seems not want to track down. The powers that be are so PC they don't want to upset any minority groups so they refuse to rock the boat but instead will continue to squeeze the average guy half to death.
The assessment on my property taxes was for a row of small boulders that I used to line the driveway on one side back fill with dirt to level the lawn then planted shrubbery. If I left it looking crappy I wouldn't be paying any extra.
Most towns on the Cape have really low property tax rates. I'd rather see a slight boost in that then they coming to my house to see if I have a hot tub, and a giant flatscreen etc.. then charging me a tax on it.
Before America was America the British used to charge a tax on the amount of glass you had in your house for windows. That's why houses from the 1600 and 1700's had such small windows, that and glass wasn't cheap. This taxation that Brewster is doing sounds to me a lot like a glass tax.
I'll say it again we need a REVOLUTION to take this country back and make these United States America again.