Any other States tax used 100 year old bricks?

[Petrol & Powder]

It took me a while , but I finally got it . I first purchased my home 25 years ago , and I figure in 5-10 years I will have paid for it again in property taxes . Although Virginia is a common wealth it seams pretty uncommon to keep the wealth .

As a fellow Virginian I understand what you are saying but I have family in the northeast and you don't even want to think about their real estate tax.
BUT, as others have correctly pointed out, government needs money to operate and the get that money from taxes. A reduction in some type of tax will simply be met with an increase in another type of tax.

Some states don't have state income tax but have high sales tax. Some states have high real estate taxes but lower personal property tax or no personal property tax. There's no free lunch.

[toallmy]

Very true it could be worse .

[JoeJames]

Arkansas sales tax plus local city sales tax here = 10.25%. Chaw on that!

[Omega]

Rocks aren't free there taxed also. They had maybe 15 different kinds rocks in huge piles. I no longer cast because of medical reasons. The lead I have is worth 1.00 a pound I needed it to weigh 125lb paid 25 dollers for the bricks not 125.00 for lead. 100 year old brick was the cheapest way.

It's pretty obvious you have never filled an umbrella weight!

I used Quikrete, I put a thick plastic liner in each of the 4 umbrella sections and poured in the concrete. I used the 40lb bags, it took a bag per section, so the weight is well within your weight range and at around $3-$4 a bag meets the price range as well.

[dragon813gt]

Regardless what others have posted about the highest gasoline tax, Pennsylvania is the reigning king of taxes at $.58 per gallon. The majority of the tax is not used for road and bridge upkeep as you would think its used to pay the salaries of the State Police and other General fund issues.

Yep, California is the closest. But we’re set to raise them one more time in the next few years. I currently forget when that is.

Like others have said there’s no free lunch. I work all the time w/ a guy that lives in Texas. We make the same hourly rate. And Texas has no income tax. Somehow I bring more money home and I have both state and local income taxes. You really have to look at everything when moving. Some states hammer you on vehicle registrations. PA is the lowest in the nation. And that’s even w/ them being doubled a few years back. The $40 some dollars a year per car is nothing when compared to other states.

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a friend that is a lot wealthier than I am and his views are far to the left mine.
When I comment about taxes he immediately attempts to steer the conversation to income taxes. Every single time we get into that discussion I have to remind him that we all pay more than just income taxes. Every time I get the discussion back on track, his argument falls apart.
Taxes cannot be viewed as income taxes, sales taxes, real estate taxes, fuel taxes, etc. Taxes must be viewed as a total of their sum.
When comparing taxes between different jurisdictions one must view the TOTAL tax burden between those jurisdictions.

There's no free lunch.

[Kenstone]

I have a friend that is a lot wealthier than I am and his views are far to the left mine.
When I comment about taxes he immediately attempts to steer the conversation to income taxes. Every single time we get into that discussion I have to remind him that we all pay more than just income taxes. Every time I get the discussion back on track, his argument falls apart.
Taxes cannot be viewed as income taxes, sales taxes, real estate taxes, fuel taxes, etc. Taxes must be viewed as a total of their sum.
When comparing taxes between different jurisdictions one must view the TOTAL tax burden between those jurisdictions.

There's no free lunch.

No, but there is/could be a cheaper lunch somewhere else

[Petrol & Powder]

No, but there is/could be a cheaper lunch somewhere else

Yep, but is it really cheaper? Or just lower taxes, lower incomes, longer commutes, lower quality schools/roads/courts and higher cost of living?
There are places with high real estate and sales taxes but accompanying high wages. Those places would be bad for retirement but may break even for people working. And there are places with low real estate tax, low sales tax but low wages and high fuel taxes - they may be better for retirement but are not good for young income earners.
I think in the end it ends up fairly level.

[Geezer in NH]

Sales Tax????

[RogerDat]

Your state has a sales tax, which on your purchase of 12 bricks added $1.87 to the price. Michigan opted to drop property taxes in favor of a higher sales tax. Exempts basic groceries. Not prepared food from restaurants or fast food. State is going to collect taxes to provide state services. Some good, some useful, some not so much, and others poorly executed. Our roads and bridges are 3rd world quality. Our state parks are pretty well done, but fee collections probably make them a money maker.

You guys should move to New Hampshire. No State income tax and no sales tax. The State owns the liquor distribution and liquor stores, just like Al Capone did in Prohibition. There seems to be some parallel there, huh?

Actually double funny. The income tax was enacted to replace the federal tax collected on alcohol when prohibition was passed. It was a trade off. At the time the largest source of federal income was from taxing booze. Make booze illegal and they had to have a replacement income. Now you have the states making money hand over fist by taxing booze, tobacco or legalizing pot.

[RogerDat]

Petrol and Powder hit the nail on the head. Different tax schemes favor different groups or situations. Generally income and property taxes are progressive (more tax from those that have more) and sales tax or fees are considered semi-regressive. A 5% sales tax on a winter coat may be more money for a high end down jacket vs. a cheap coat but is harder on for the less financially well off person buying a winter coat at K-Mart or Salvation Army.

Taxing wealth or taxing financial activity or taxing specific items are the only choices. The ones that work for a rural farming state may not work well for a high tech manufacturing state. Lot of articles on best places to retire for tax advantage. AARP magazine is full of them.

[Kenstone]

Yep, but is it really cheaper? Or just lower taxes, lower incomes, longer commutes, lower quality schools/roads/courts and higher cost of living?
There are places with high real estate and sales taxes but accompanying high wages. Those places would be bad for retirement but may break even for people working. And there are places with low real estate tax, low sales tax but low wages and high fuel taxes - they may be better for retirement but are not good for young income earners.
I think in the end it ends up fairly level.

Is it really cheaper...yes it is
You would have to have lived a lot of different places to know though, and there's lots of study data that supports it, even in all the scenarios you can dream up.
With respect to your opinion, your posts read like someone living in a high cost of living area and can't/won't move.

Take the last word here if you must, but I'm done with it.
jmo

[jonp]

You guys should move to New Hampshire. No State income tax and no sales tax. The State owns the liquor distribution and liquor stores, just like Al Capone did in Prohibition. There seems to be some parallel there, huh?

Stop that. Haven't you guys had enough problems with flatlanders moving up to take over without you encouraging people? They destroyed VT enough that my wife and I moved 800 miles south to get away from them

[thxmrgarand]

New Hampshire is the only state that has never had a sales or income tax. Alaska now has none, but it once had an income tax and abolished it. Government is far too large in America today, too large for our government to function as intended by the Constitution. That is our real problem. Government takes from us instead of giving us the option to buy or not as the private sector must do. Government now provides a substantial portion of all health care, housing, and food across America. The people taking those subsidies from government pay little or nothing so there is no natural limit on their demand e.g. they will take all they can get. The government employees involved in each of those programs want to grow the programs, and they do. Government completely avoids common sense, and no one can question that because some part of every program is a perceived benefit to someone who has a lobbyist. Every dollar of government spending, every program, every construction project has powerful supporters and paid lobbyists, but common sense is seen as job-killing and has no lobbyists. Ronald Reagan said, "A government bureau is the nearest thing we'll ever see to eternal life on this earth." He also said, "Federal grants are like rabbits - they multiply like crazy, and when they are out you can't catch them." Send someone to Congress, either political party, and within just a few years their net worth has grown by tens of millions of dollars. And government employees are just as much on the take as elected officials, it's just that the employees are lazier and so happier to accept a little less pay and a little less power. I work on political campaigns much of the time, but it's all to push back against gun control; I have given up hope about anyone bringing common sense to government spending as in the main there is very little support. In every society there will always be people who are motivated to work harder; in a society with much government control those harder working people are motivated by power over everyone else whereas in one with less government control the harder working people are motivated by wanting to own business jets, yachts and the like. It seems that the lazier a person is the more readily they accept someone having power over them in return for the free health care, food, housing, etc. It has always seemed to me that for those who are a bit lazy but still value freedom a sales tax is much easier to accommodate than is an income tax.

[Geezer in NH]

I moved to NH over 35 years ago. I love the big time naysayers that the property tax is very high.

Not So When I left MA my property tax was around $2900 a year with water and sewer fees around another $1000 per year.

The 6 family across the street paid under rent control Less than $600 per year using 3 times what my 2 family did. water and sewer were also reduced for the 6 family.

Well for water on me, same as the septic system. In fact have 2 wells! Cost about 1/4 to 1/3 over the years. [nothing is free]

My property taxes even 35 years later has not reached what I paid in MA. I have a 2 bedroom ranch and 3 car garage, barn and chicken house on 7+ acres not the little lot in MA.

Wife and I have no state income tax and no state sales tax. Tell me how it's the same?????

We also have constitutional gun rights and carry unlike MA when I even as a sworn officer could not get my wife a carry permit. THAT was why we had to move to protect her.

Thank God we went to a FREE state.