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The Tried-And-True Blueprint For Raising Taxes
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
As the global economy slides into recession and the U.S. economy catches a cold, the blueprint for raising taxes will be dusted off in every state.
The blueprint for raising taxes in the modern era was first established in 1913 when the federal government instituted permanent income taxes. Prior to 1913, income taxes were viewed as wartime emergency measures to raise money for the immensely costly prosecution of war.
Here's the blueprint for raising taxes:
1. Declare the tax is an emergency measure.2. Start the tax out at a low rate to minimize resistance.3. Levy the tax only on the wealthy to play the "it's only fair" card.4. During some late-night session when the public isn't looking, make the tax permanent by burying the provision deep inside some popular and/or complicated legislation.5. Raise the tax rate in response to deficits, i.e. "we need more money."6. Gradually expand the base by reducing the qualification level from "wealthy" to "well-off" and eventually to everyone.7. Gradually reduce deductions and exemptions to pittances.8. Auction off exemptions for the super-wealthy via campaign contributions.
You can watch the blueprint in action in any number of locales--for example, Rhode Island, where the governor is proposing a first-ever statewide property tax on second-homes worth more than $1 million. The proposed levy has been dubbed the Taylor Swift Tax in honor of Swift's $17 million mansion on the Rhode Island coast.
According to the data presented in these links, Rhode Island property taxes are in the top 20% of the nation. Depending on how the tax is reckoned (as a percentage of median home value, for example), Rhode Island scores in the top 10 of the 50 states.
Property Taxes on Owner-Occupied Housing by State, 2004 - 2009 (taxfoundation.org)
Raimondo's second-home tax targets properties worth more than $1M(providencejournal.com)
50-State Property Tax Comparison Study (PDF; lincolninst.edu)
Here is a Tax Foundation chart of property taxes paid by county. The darker the blue, the higher the property taxes:
As the global economy slides into recession and the U.S. economy catches a cold, the blueprint for raising taxes will be dusted off in every state.
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$2k won't get you a shed in NJ
just a jersey shore hoe for the night
$2k wont remove the stench from that ho or pay for the lifetime of STD treatments.
Shouldn't even be called "property taxes."
Government rental fee.
pods
Another benefit of AU -
concentrated and movable wealth
They took the whole Cherokee Nation...
Locked us on this Reservation...
Stupid fukn elected political turds. Economy is 70% based on consumer spending. Best way to help the economy is to take away taxpayers money so they have less discretionary dollars to spend? Brilliant.
those "retire at 55" govt pensions aren't going to pay for themselves, ya know...
Ask Bill Clnton how much that cost.
Amish anyone?
Are Amish Hoes Cheaper?
No comment.
A ho is just a ho.
But a hoe is a tool. More useful and a lot cheaper than a ho.
And a ho-down is not a ho on the job or 'terminated', but is a jolly good time.
OH?
It doesn't matter, the rest of the country would just as soon shed NJ anyway.
Yeah, that isn't a very informative graphic. I'd bet the median property taxes on Long Island have to be approaching $10,000 per year.
And thats with the "tax cap" the teachers union is trying to abolish
Teachers union=Democrats
Median property taxes are closer to $20,000 in some NYC burbs - minimum buy-in for a 'starter house' is $500,000.
Problem is that places with reallly low taxes you DON'T want to live in - you pay pretty much the same wherever you are
Taxes plus commuting cost plus school cost is pretty consistent.
Taxes are high where schools are good and higher for shorter commutes.
Taxes are lower if you're paying a high commute cost
Taxes are lower if you send your kids to a private school instead of public
'Better' places to live cost more vbecause of what you're NOT paying as well
My brother in NC pays 1/10 of my taxes but his kids are dumb as rocks courtesy of NC schools and when the wind is blowing right you can wallow in the stench of pig farms. No Thanks.
Pay attention that 2k is the tax levied not the value of anything.
"$2k won't get you a shed in NJ"
You'll couldn't get me to live in NJ even if you paid me $200K a year! Such a horrible, horrible place to live. I even despise driving through NJ.
Just like any other state, Jersey has some nice parts and some not-so-nice parts.
Southern NJ is very different from Northern NJ.
Jest sayin'.
RE
The weathy don't get majorly taxed on their income in the US like the working man; thats why they like it here.
There's the "wealthy" who still get taxed, but can afford some avoidance, then there's those wealthy enough to purchase their own congress critter.
Believe me...the taxes when being wealthy are very low...the writeoffs in the US and the tax avoidance scams....are epic. CEO Deferred Income, Capital Gains put off for decades...
And they don't get majorly taxed on their property either. Its at a much lower effective rate as the value increases. Properties 10x in size and even more than 10x in actual sellable value are taxed at very slightly more actual tax payable than mine. Its the same over a lot of the country. Gotta subsidize the rich you know!
Not sure where you are but that is not true in Illinois. But why should a homeowner be assessed more for a bigger house on the same size parcel in the same neighborhood? They paid more taxes (sales) when the house was built and stimulated the economy more. Why does the house size matter? Or the number of bathrooms? Or if you have a finished basement?
Also, if you update your house, your assessment will go up and then you pay more property taxes. So you maintain your house instead of letting it go to pot and therefore future generations will be able to use it, yet they penalize you.
It's just some bullshit, nitpicking rules to nickel and dime homeowners to pay for bigger governments and bigger government salaries and pensions.
in PA the communist WOLF wants everything taxed
And he'll get it, too. Even the Republicans in Harrisburg are salivating at the thought of raising new/improved/updated/expanded taxes. You noticed the extra 10 cent a gallon gasoline tax on Jan 1? A "temporary" tax to fund dredging out the port of Philadelphia. Fits the template perfectly.
I think PA is on the cusp of going full-New Jersey. And you never go full-New Jersey.
The jersey devil did, then he crossed the Ben Franklin bridge.
I am loosing my job March 31 because of O'care so we are looking to move out of the state but stay close enough to the family. This has been a welfare state for the past 20 years.
Ah... Just wait until the Rain Tax comes your way. $400, plus, per year for anything on your property that stops the rain from directly seeping into Mother Nature's Earth. Roof on house - TAX it. Paved driveway - TAX it. Roof on shed - TAX it. Concrete patio - TAX it. Leftists have an infinite number of ways to squeeze money out of you in order to buy votes and pay for wealthy government employees. Now the Rain Tax king, O'Mally, wants to be president, bringing the Rain Tax to everyone.
PRAY to Mother Earth, peoples. Pray!!!! Leftists demand it and they have the guns/jails.
CC,
and that after and on top of the septic and trash(local jurisdiction) tax.
In Maryland with all the various tax burdens related to owning a home, once you pay off your mortgage, this burden is a perpetual mortgage payment and of like proportion .
Absolutely. Without a mortgage my required monthly payments to the government will be roughly $800. If I don't pay that my ultra-liberal, progressive (for the children, the poor, women, and minorities, you see), government will take my home from me and sell it. Because they are compassionate...
Pay your taxes bitches.
And like it. It's THE LAW...
Or we have a peaceful little re-education camp for you.
THE most useful map I've seen in a long while.
Does ISIS charge their subjects a property tax? Inquiring minds want to know for comparison reasons.
Billy Sol, Estes :"Does ISIS charge their subjects a property tax? Inquiring minds want to know for comparison reasons."
Yea, they call it a head tax or something like that over there. The penalties for not paying can be detrimental to your general health and well being.
How much for the little girls? -common question at ISIS slave auctions
"Does ISIS charge their subjects a property tax? Inquiring minds want to know for comparison reasons."
The colllect it from US taxpayers that provided ISIS Weapons and Cash. When ISIS sacked Mosul they got over $500 Million in USD currency and probbably another $300M to $500M in US equipment. Al Queda won about $500M in US equipment when they sacked Yemen.
need to raise $$$ to pay for all this free shit.
i just sold my house in NJ - you couldn't pay me to buy another house in the fuck-tarded state EVER again. ill be renting & not giving 2 shits about the "rent V buy" arguement people in real estate make. ill gladly "throw $$$ out the window every month" on high rents for the security knowing im only locked-in for 1 year & then i can bail.
also don't care about losing the mortgage interest deduction because IF the repubs take the white house in 2016, with senate & house already in their control, that will be the first sacrificial lamb with its head on the chopping block (assuming that a real tax-debt-reduction deal ever takes place which im not banking on but IF a real bill ever came for a vote with any teeth, that subsidy HAS TO go).
It comes down a minimum amount of money needed to run local government. The fewer homes available (e.g. like a small town) or the greater the local government expense (e.g. probably NJ, but never been there), the higher your property taxes will be.
In my previous experiences as a mortgage broker, I found Bloomington, MN to be pretty reasonable in property taxes ($250,000 home = <$1800 property tax) for a city with >100,000 people. It helps to have a giant mall and airport in your city to help cover local government costs.
And wow, what's with WI? Home values versus property taxes don't add up. The ratio seems high.
big brother - it just goes to show the states that are actually fiscally responsible. im a fan of scott walker cuz he had the balls to put his foot down no matter what - they stormed his office, protested outside his fucking parents house (his mom brought the protesters cookies, i thought that was lol). result was he inherited a $2-3 billion debt and turned it into a $500 million surplus within a few years. the "free shit" crowd had the heads explode but whatever - only so much blood u can get out of those paying taxes. this article crystalizes the problem obama has created - divide & conquer by turning the lower 80% on the top 20%. instead of promoting success, he villifies it.
i was thinking this morning, this president HAS NOT ONCE promoted people saving. guess its a tough sell when your offering them 0% interest. he sure as hell is a great salesmen of borrowing - new FHFA rules to repeat the housing bubble, back-stopping college loans so college tuitions have gone vertical - i mean ive never seen a more upside-down way to "lead" in my entire life.
ive considered myself a quasi-teapartier/libertarian but in recent years (1-2) ive definitely gravitated more towards the libertarian side of the equation. i know there is a large contingent here who doesn't like scott walker. i guess i just think he's the closest to my ideals who has a shot. ron/rand paul i just don't see having enough firepower to get their #'s where they'd need to be in a primary. sucks because ive really bought-into their notion of less is more. i didn't know enough or bought-into enough the preachings of ron paul but i find it histerical how all the stuff he'd been talking about at the republican conventions has come to fruition. everything from the need to get back on the gold standard (because of what he saw coming in gov't debts) to foreign policy; i can't think of a better guy to have had running the country the last 10-15 years. friggin sad to think how he could have this landscape leveled & an economy that could actually hit that escape velocity. seems bush/obama put on on the exact opposite end of the spectrum which is a collision course with an asteriod.
The only thing is that taxation is a two part issue. The first revolves around who/what is taxed, how much they are taxed etc. The second is what is done with the tax collected. Running a surplus is great but it means very little if property taxes are 30%, for example. So, much like a car dealer who may give you a great price on your car but screw you on the loan and/or your trade, these crooked politicians always find a way to line someone's pockets and it probably ain't yours and it definitely ain't mine.
Thurough explanation. WI is a land of business-friendly opportunity. I hope Scott Walker runs for president.
also, Big Brother, minnesota has a significant "Homestead" adjustment.
If you are a homeowner, you get a good discount. If you own a business - like an apartment bulding - you pay full freight.
Which means that homeowners (less than 50% of residents) are being subsidized by renters in your fair state. because..FAIRNESS. tax those rich landlords!
Of couse, if you are both renting and working (and therefore, taxpaying), you can use your renters credit which helps swing a little money back to you. It still doesn't compensate for the higher commercial property taxes.
Poor folks just never get this: Landlords PAY NO TAXES.
In Walker's Wisconsin, while far from perfect, property taxation is equal. Commercial vs. homeowners makes no difference. Renters do not subsidize homeowners.
True, true. If you're a renter in MN and you make less than $58060, you can get back 17.5% of your rent paid (max = $2060). So yeah, no compensation for higher commerical property taxes.
Also, don't forget your landlord inspection fee to Minneapolis for the pleasure of having one of their inspectors visit your property (if you own property in Minneapolis).
Define a "local government".
The only good idea Gov. Andrew Cuomo of NY has is to force all these little towns and hamlets across NY State to consolidate. This would, in theory, create local government "scale economies".
This would also make thousands of useless local municipal employees redundant. So you can guess that his idea has gone nowhere, even in a state wherein he's popular and the Republicans have a very powerful, but minoruty, voice in the legislature.
In theory, more local government is more responsive to the peoples' needs. In practice, it's an excuse for massive nepotism, corruption and inefficiency.
and I won't even mention local police forces.....
If you want to feel sick to your stomach, check this out. The public unions RAPE people in NY state via ridiculous taxes. Look at police pensions to start...
http://seethroughny.net/
DLux - i saw a clip on 1 of the local TV stations about how the MTA just raised fares (again). what do the people get for the increase? jammed platforms, subway cars that are like sardines, longer wait times.
they should re-coin the phrase "fare increase" to "employee work for 20 years, retire for 50 years program"
Amen brother...I gotta get out of this place...if it's the last thing I ever do....
My sister's in-laws have been raking in over $100K in annual state pension income, since they were in their mid-50's (10 years ago). Where did they work? A state agency which handled 'differently abled' people, aka retarded people. It was the brainchild of state bureaucrats back in the 70's and 80's, spread these redundant state agencies across rural areas of Upstate, pay people with liberal arts/sociology/etc. degrees outsized wages and benefits to work in said agencies, and it'll mask the collapse of the rural Upstate economy. That, combined with Mario Cuomo's massive prison building scheme, has/have provided employment to hundreds of thousands Upstate.
I live within that dark blue blob across Upstate, on that map You're welcome!
How Soviet of you.
I lived in Bloomington for a year. Not a bad town for a 20-something in the 90s...fun in its own right and easy access to Minneapolis where we could get our freak on properly. But I was a renter then. When I got serious about home ownership, I took a good, long look around and ended up in Mound (AKA the slum/armpit of Lake Minnetonka). For whatever reason, property values there were a lot lower than most places in the area. Funny thing...I lived there for 10 years but for the life of me I can't remember what my property tax was. Probably similar to Bloomington on a percentage basis....
And then I woke up and realized I didn't want to be anywhere near a big city when the crash comes, and moved back outstate where I grew up. One of the best decisions I ever made.
Shit, nowadays, everything is an "emergency"... The constitution is long dead, now we get to reap what has been sown motherfuckers...
As far as taxes go, that which cannot be paid/sustained, won't be, period...
fuck em., I mean when was the last time Congress actually passed and followed a real fucking budget?
I think they call it a 'continuing resolution' now. Much less confining.
Need too add state income taxes.Those dark blue ones would be black except Florida.
Glad local/state taxes are getting some attention on ZH. A large part of the increase in taxes I've seen (PA resident) has come from state & local. Anyone who thinks that taxes haven't gone up just because marginal Federal tax rates haven't moved in years is looking in the wrong place.
The Feral Government has pushed so many mandates down to the state level.... guess where the new/updated/revised/expanded taxes are happening?
Yes, municipal services must be maintained. At the end of the day, all economies are really local, period. Most local business people know damn well who the important local government officials are. I sure as hell know my local commissioner and tax assessor on a first name basis. If they make my life difficult, I will return the favor ten-fold.
And ya just gotta pay for all the dumbed down produced by the 'schools'.
My county keeps passing increased property taxes 'for the children'.
The voters are too dumb to see that the kids keep getting more ignorant each passing year. 'Teachers' are worse. Show them tests given to school kids from the 1870s, 1930s, or even the 1950s, - and the massive decline in accomplishment is obvious. Every public 'school teacher' I've shown this to has never had a response. They are the products of the same 'schooling'.
Pardon the rant. The county auditors recently came around salivating at the prospect of raising everyone's property taxes. Their 'bill' will likely be mailed out to landowners soon. It's especially galling to know the money will be spent to create the next generation of the Stupid.
wait till they lose all those gas taxes.... But no fear Emperor No clothes willl just forgive all debt everywhere for anything
My parents retired to PA from an expensive, tax-and-spend D.C. suburb. They were shocked that their property taxes went UP in PA. Apparently every little jurisdiction has to have its own school board, high school with swimming pool, etc.
cut my property taxes in half for a five year period and I'll show you some muthaluvin' consumer stimulus...
o-snap!.. I thought this was another zombie map article. My bad.
It is.
"You can watch the blueprint in action in any number of locales--for example, Rhode Island, where the governor is proposing a first-ever statewide property tax on second-homes worth more than $1 million. The proposed levy has been dubbed the Taylor Swift Tax in honor of Swift's $17 million mansion on the Rhode Island coast."
You left out...unless you donate to the OBama-Clinton Fund....then no tax!
For some reason I have a hard time feeling bad for people with multiple million dollar+ homes... Sorry. These same fuckers often bitch and moan about paying people to protect or maintain their property too...
Fuck em.
Property taxes are the MOST Regressive tax in the world !!!
And here in NJ we are #1 in the world to pay for all the good old boys, cronyism, families, mafia ,public taking thugs.
The good news about being so much higher than the average, the fuckers stick out like a sore thumb and know they have no chance of raising taxes much higher than that BS 2% theft they hide behind.
I would actually be more worried in the lower taxed states, a lot more room for them to maneuver upwards.
I love Charles Hugh-Smith, but he is shooting behind the duck here. This phenomenon has already happened all across the country.
From gasoline taxes, to business license taxes, luxury taxes, property tax increases, franchise taxes, user fees, increased fines (which are of course just taxes), sales taxes on services (barbers, tanning salons etc.) personal property taxes etc., there is nothing "stealth" or covert about the drive by local governments to increase revenue.
In CT where I live, I could give you countless examples of bullshit little taxes that have been newly imposed or increased over the past few years. Of course, many uber-wealthy folks just move to Florida and commute from there. With a private jet, a little ingenuity and a good accountant, most of this extra tax is avoidable, especially income tax.
Here in CT, these people are readily indentifiable by the Florida license plates on their Bentleys. They re-emerge after the snow melts and the country clubs re-open.
The less wealthy or the working slobs are just stuck and pay up. State income taxes are optional for billionaires, believe me.
This is a bit deceptive. NH pays very high property taxes, but doesn't pay an income or sales tax. Overall, we probably pay about the same as most other states that collect it in the form of more tax streams.
There are other information sources that compare the entire gambit of taxes, including gas taxes, food and service taxes, etc... which is a much more complete comparison.
Madcow: "This is a bit deceptive. NH pays very high property taxes, but doesn't pay an income or sales tax. Overall, we probably pay about the same as most other states that collect it in the form of more tax streams.
There are other information sources that compare the entire gambit of taxes, including gas taxes, food and service taxes, etc... which is a much more complete comparison."
....and also, the property taxes vary greatly from town to town, so you can still pay below the state "average" if you choose your little plot of leased land from Government wisely.
I used to live in NV, where property taxes are almost nil and there is no sales tax. Now, I live in CT (due to military obligations at the time) and not only do I pay taxes on my leased plot of land, but also on anything else of value; car, boat (if you have one), farm equipment, trailers, etc. The point is, there are areas that promote individual freedoms and remittance from taxes, such as NV, and there are others that leech every dime from you, if possible (CT). I am not necessarily complaining, just comparing the differences.
#10 - "It's for the children, raaaaaaaacist."
2005-2009 data?
Anyone who claims taxes are low in the US isn't counting them all.
Stupid. Don't you know it is for the crumbling roads and bridges?
If I didn't have kids in school, I'd retire to a a small town or a rural place with half-decent climate (not too hot and not too cold) and low taxes.
Would even consider leaving the US altogether, since the health-care is cheaper everywhere else, and the cost of living is lower too.
The USSA is becoming more and more of a Latter Day Rome/Babylon. Since most 'Mericans and even a few ZHers "don't get out much", they will be unlikely to look beyond their usual stomping grounds. That's a pity and their loss.
Boldy go then.
Any Accountants out here at Z/H? A while back I listened to a youtube about CAFR's -- Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, listing city, county, state and national investments held in world stocks. Supposedly there is enough invested in FACRs where US citizens really do not have to pay taxes at all. States and cities are awash in investment capital.
Anyone care to share what they know?????
This was discovered by Walter Van Burien maybe 10 years ago. When I heard about it, I thought he was crazy, so I did some verification, and this appears to be true. There are an incredible number of governmental entities, to water districts, port districts, school districts, etc. each of which has a portfolio of investments held as contingencies, future expenses, retirement - any number of reasons - which are not reported to the public and are not available for normal expenditures. The rates of return are very high (something like 14%) and the earnings are retained by the entities. You can check it out yourself - do a search for CAFR California, or whatever. I understand that as much as 75% of the stock market is held by these governmental entities. Because each entity is separate and independent, there is no way to really get a handle on the overall total.
This was a reply to @Pocomotion
They also build runways and towers and perform landing rituals in hopes the cargo planes will keep landing.
Please, get to know Walter Burien, a voice crying in the wilderness about CAFR since 1998 or so!! www.cafr1.com
I couldn't make head nor tails of that website. He's not going to make any progress if he can't even make a coherent case.
Anything you cut from the federal budget you tax back at home to replace.
A lesson not learned by Republicans yet but they will.
So you believe that government size and control over people's lives must always grow (if not federal then state and local)? Otherwise, we will all shrivel up and die without the government there to take care of us?