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Why is it that every time we have a problem with the economy, the dang local governments and schools want more MONEY and new tax levies? Can't they tighten the belt like the rest of us?
New lawn sign, "Sorry all Taxed Out, Quit Asking!"
But if they cut something you like, you'll complain. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You make it sound like tightening the belt will somehow not affect you. The schools will have fewer teachers, the streets will have no operating streetlights, fewer police will patrol the city, libraries will close, roads and bridges won't get built or repaired, the license bureau will have shorter hours of operation, etc. Not pretty is it? And most importantly, people will get laid off meaning that even fewer tax dollars will be collected which means tax rates will go even higher. No easy solution by any means.
But if they cut something you like, you'll complain. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You make it sound like tightening the belt will somehow not affect you. The schools will have fewer teachers, the streets will have no operating streetlights, fewer police will patrol the city, libraries will close, roads and bridges won't get built or repaired, the license bureau will have shorter hours of operation, etc. Not pretty is it? And most importantly, people will get laid off meaning that even fewer tax dollars will be collected which means tax rates will go even higher. No easy solution by any means.
My state collects a hefty amount in taxes and yet the roads or bridges hardly are touched
But if they cut something you like, you'll complain. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You make it sound like tightening the belt will somehow not affect you. The schools will have fewer teachers, the streets will have no operating streetlights, fewer police will patrol the city, libraries will close, roads and bridges won't get built or repaired, the license bureau will have shorter hours of operation, etc. Not pretty is it? And most importantly, people will get laid off meaning that even fewer tax dollars will be collected which means tax rates will go even higher. No easy solution by any means.
BS and more BS. you sound like a public service employee. that is exactly what they are told to say around here, except you left out no police or fire protection. but mostly you people conveniently leave out all the welfare and entitlements and the millions of drug addicts and drunks on ssi disability. ha ha omg the library will cut its hours to children if you don't pay us twice as much
[b]Why is it that every time we have a problem with the economy, the dang local governments and schools want more MONEY and new tax levies? Can't they tighten the belt like the rest of us?
Governmental budgets have little in common with individual and family budgets. I know Sarah Palin and simple-minded conservatives want us all to think that all budgets are alike, but really, they're not.
But if they cut something you like, you'll complain. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You make it sound like tightening the belt will somehow not affect you. The schools will have fewer teachers, the streets will have no operating streetlights, fewer police will patrol the city, libraries will close, roads and bridges won't get built or repaired, the license bureau will have shorter hours of operation, etc. Not pretty is it? And most importantly, people will get laid off meaning that even fewer tax dollars will be collected which means tax rates will go even higher. No easy solution by any means.
Actually, that is just what politicians like to claim to justify their own power needs. "The people demand services!" politicians claim, but what they are actually saying is that the bigger the budget, the more powerful the Department Head who spends the money. Local towns here in NH have perfected the art of spending huge sums of taxpayer money on "studies" (every government decision maker is related to at least 10 "consultants" to take money for these essential studies). When I was growing up, the town of Hampton spent approximately $100,000 on a study of whether to build a town pool. The pool, when it was finally built (with donated funds), was about the size of an average home pool and cost about $50,000 for the same sized pool I had built in Florida for $9,000.
I would like to see a breakdown of how many people in my town lose more than $10,000 each year to property taxes (me), compared to how many impose children on the educational system, for instance (not me). I would have gladly chosen to live in the town that offered absolutely nothing in terms of programs or studies or whatever, but every town within 2 hours of work has a similar nightmarishly high NH property tax rates (read, unfunded mandates from other government levels).
I chose not to have kids, and think those who want them should pay for them (this country does not need to fill open spaces anymore; we are all competing for very few resources and jobs). We are on well and septic. All the government services my family uses (library, trash pickup, parks) are supported by user fees. I must pay more than a worker's annual salary to the local government for the privilege of local government not confiscating the house I bought and paid for. Streetlights are irrelevant in the country and businesses/homeowners generally pay for their own. Police spend all their time handing out speeding fines, and although I have had a car stolen and my homes broken into several times, absolutely no attempt was made to apprehend the culprits (in fact, when I found out what juvenile delinquent had broken into my home, I was soundly threatened not to so much as tell the delinquent not to do it again since he had "rights").
The license bureau is not exactly a government service: they are the one demanding that I pass their tests and pay fees and submit to their paperwork for the government-granted "privilege" of driving. I spent 7 hours waiting in line the last time I got my driver's license renewed, and that is not a typo. Illegals freely travel the roads, however, and every time a member of my family has been hit, it has been by someone who didn't have insurance and was 100% at fault. I just noticed that my car insurance company added back in that additional unwanted redundant "uninsured motorist" insurance, after I have already removed it at least 3 separate times. They tell me the government requires that they add it back in every single year, and require me to write a letter to have it removed yet again.
Let's address the "people will get laid off meaning fewer tax dollars will be collected" idea. Every government job requires a certain number of taxpayers to pay for it--unlike the private sector job, which is paid for out of open-market company income. A nation cannot function with government employing all the workers, as some liberals have suggested here on CD. This is simple math: the public employee (say a fireman or cop) gets a salary of $100,000 a year, but probably only gives back about $20,000 to the federal government and around $10,000 to the state. And let's not forget that government jobs generally fall into two categories: assessing and collecting taxes, and regulating and micro-managing any and all activities that government wants to regulate--in short, a government overseer to look over your shoulder whatever you are doing, from driving down the road to fixing up your house to fishing or hiking.
As we all have heard, government jobs now pay far more than private, have much better benefits, and work much less hours overall. Personally I find it insulting that a high school bully who becomes a cop and hands out traffic fines will be far better off financially than a professional engineer with a graduate degree who keeps a manufacturing or power plant running and works insane hours with little vacation time.
The disconnect in power between the taxpayer and the government overlords is more severe now that it has been in modern American history. Government decides how much of the taxpayer's money they want to take. Government decides to do whatever "studies" and "programs" it sees fit to make itself more powerful. And the taxpayer has zero recourse to being robbed blind, other than posting on CD and hearing liberals respond with name calling and demands to "stop complaining."
The day of reckoning is fast approaching, for Americans can only be robbed of so much before they decide to stand up for themselves. I'm sure the liberals will quietly accept the dismantling of empire government as we rebuild from national bankruptcy, and will pride themselves on refraining from complaining when their fat public pensions suffer the fate that our private pensions did. Right?
When I was growing up, the town of Hampton spent approximately $100,000 on a study of whether to build a town pool. The pool, when it was finally built (with donated funds), was about the size of an average home pool and cost about $50,000 for the same sized pool I had built in Florida for $9,000.
That reminds me of the town just north of me.. They recently spent $300,000 putting in noise detectors on each corner so when someone shoots a gun, they would know exactly where it was shot (they say it gets it narrowed down to about 20 feet).. The same town though is buying up homes on streets, spending about $30K per home so they can tear up the streets at who knows what cost, a year after they tore up the sidewalks to put in handicapped ramps in.. The reason for all of this, so they can save money and not light the street lights..
I'd love to see the number of years it takes to break even. I bet before its all done some developer will decide to come in and build new housing (with govt money of course), and they will have to rebuild the very roads they just tore up...
The day of reckoning is fast approaching, for Americans can only be robbed of so much before they decide to stand up for themselves.
Funny, you know that Americans are the robbed and the robbers all rolled into one, don't you? We have to stand up and decide what we are more of... hilarious!
Local towns here in NH have perfected the art of spending huge sums of taxpayer money on "studies" (every government decision maker is related to at least 10 "consultants" to take money for these essential studies). When I was growing up, the town of Hampton spent approximately $100,000 on a study of whether to build a town pool. The pool, when it was finally built (with donated funds), was about the size of an average home pool and cost about $50,000 for the same sized pool I had built in Florida for $9,000.
And there is the infamous fable of where the $500 hammer comes from. Government is inefficient and creates a lot of waste. And liberals want more government
Governmental budgets have little in common with individual and family budgets. I know Sarah Palin and simple-minded conservatives want us all to think that all budgets are alike, but really, they're not.
Your right. I can't legally print money, like they can, when I go over budget. I have to sell something or work harder and longer to get caught up.
If you own the printing press your above budgets. That word has no meaning.
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