Texas rural counties asking for $1.5 billion in tax dollars to be able to get high speed internet (Austin: sales, loan)

[move4ward]

Originally Posted by escanlan

I would be interested in knowing in what form should the money be returned "to urban taxpayers"?

$1.5 billion is a lot of tax dollars. They can credit property taxes as a percentage.

Rural residents will their share back to spend how they please.

We should not turn Texas into California with increased socialist policies and higher government spending. Don't California my Texas.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by move4ward

$1.5 billion is a lot of tax dollars. They can credit property taxes as a percentage.

Rural residents will their share back to spend how they please.

We should not turn Texas into California with increased socialist policies and higher government spending. Don't California my Texas.

It sounds like you would have been opposed to the Rural Electrification Administration that made loans to rural electrical co-ops to run power to farms all over the US. Or the many dams that were built to provide power, flood control, and navigation.

If you think rural areas are well served by cellular internet, you haven't traveled across the state very much. Cellular internet is not good in many areas.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by move4ward

$1.5 billion is a lot of tax dollars. They can credit property taxes as a percentage.

Rural residents will their share back to spend how they please.

We should not turn Texas into California with increased socialist policies and higher government spending. Don't California my Texas.

Property tax credits would go to both rural and urban dwellers and not just "to urban taxpayers". So in what form should the money be returned "to urban taxpayers"?

[move4ward]

Socialism works great until it doesn't. Look at the Californians moving to Texas. Californians make everything more expensive.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by move4ward

Socialism works great until it doesn't. Look at the Californians moving to Texas. Californians make everything more expensive.

There’s only one natural lake in Texas, who do you think built the other 7000 lakes?

[move4ward]

Originally Posted by Dopo

There’s only one natural lake in Texas, who do you think built the other 7000 lakes?

That's a myth that we tell transplants. There are 187 man-made lakes.

Is there only one natural lake in Texas? Take a swim with Curious Texas
https://archive.ph/dnDKE

There are 187 man-made water supply reservoirs, which look an awful lot like natural lakes, larger than 5,000 acres in Texas, according to the Texas Water Development Board.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Dopo

There’s only one natural lake in Texas, who do you think built the other 7000 lakes?

Fair point but a lake intended to provide water to municipalities is considered public infrastructure. It wasn't owned or operated by a business unit beforehand. We are talking about using tax dollars to fund infrastructure completely owned and operated by corporate entites, some of which are already monopolies in their scope of service. If rural TX is getting government funded internet, I want a discount on my Fiber network too...

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Fair point but a lake intended to provide water to municipalities is considered public infrastructure. It wasn't owned or operated by a business unit beforehand. We are talking about using tax dollars to fund infrastructure completely owned and operated by corporate entites, some of which are already monopolies in their scope of service. If rural TX is getting government funded internet, I want a discount on my Fiber network too...

I pay less for AT&T 1GB fiber than a friend does for 25mbps rural wireless from his local electrical coop, which is the only provider. Some of the broadband plan money will go to corporate entities, but much of it will go to the various coops that provide utility service to much of rural Texas. Coops are nonprofit entities, any surplus is returned to the customers. Rural Texans aren't going to get internet paid for, they will have internet available at higher speeds. These are people that the large corporate providers will never service, as they can't make any money or don't want the hassle.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by WRM20

I pay less for AT&T 1GB fiber than a friend does for 25mbps rural wireless from his local electrical coop, which is the only provider. Some of the broadband plan money will go to corporate entities, but much of it will go to the various coops that provide utility service to much of rural Texas. Coops are nonprofit entities, any surplus is returned to the customers. Rural Texans aren't going to get internet paid for, they will have internet available at higher speeds. These are people that the large corporate providers will never service, as they can't make any money or don't want the hassle.

It just is what it is I suppose. I have 5GB fiber by AT&T and pay ~ $280 monthly for. If you're not in an area where service is abundant or is more difficult to provide, it should be expected that someone will need to pay more for the same or lesser level of service. If service is not available then more efforts between Rural Texans should be made to collaborate with service providers to bring service out to their area at a cost those communities can agree upon, even if that cost is higher than in an urban area.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

It just is what it is I suppose. I have 5GB fiber by AT&T and pay ~ $280 monthly for. If you're not in an area where service is abundant or is more difficult to provide, it should be expected that someone will need to pay more for the same or lesser level of service. If service is not available then more efforts between Rural Texans should be made to collaborate with service providers to bring service out to their area at a cost those communities can agree upon, even if that cost is higher than in an urban area.

Those of us who live in rural areas DO pay more for internet already! When we lived in Grapevine, we paid $79 a month for FiOS. Now that I’m in Kaufman County, I pay $129 a month for much more limited broadband, and I am lucky to have it. Many rural properties don’t have any broadband available. As I mentioned earlier, there is a company wanting to install broadband in our rural area, but they want everyone to subscribe in advance for 2 years to make sure they can recoup the installation cost. If the company had access to a subsidized loan, we could all get broadband a lot easier!