Force me to sell

riptides · Jun 30, 2005

( This ruling effectively robs me of that right. )

Yep. Why buy land now? The laws of certain states rob it of investment potential.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

sendero · Jun 30, 2005

My wife is real big on the "root cause" theory. She says that in all too many cases, people fail to recognize the root cause of a situation that perturbs them.

What is the "root cause" of this problem? Well, we could argue endlessly and I'm not going to do that, but I am going to give my opinion and let it lie.

The Root Cause of this problem is that the states and cities are STRAPPED FOR CASH. There was a time when they did not need to worry about new development so much, or efficient use of land from a revenue perspective. Those days are over, and if you want to know why LOOK STRAIGHT TO WASHINGTON.

PhilNH5 · Jun 30, 2005

For a look from Weare NH (site of D Souter's home) here is an ARTICLE from the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester NH

Phil

Cityboyfarmer · Jun 30, 2005

Why are city's strapped for cash and why are they entitled to automatically raise our taxes or confiscate our property because they spent too much money?

We cannot go to our employers and raise our own salaries because we spent too much money and are strapped for cash. Why do we allow government to gouge us when they overspend?? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

The root of the problem is out of control government spending and the property tax system.

sendero · Jun 30, 2005

The overspending is not happening at the city/state level, it is happening at the Federal level.

riptides · Jun 30, 2005

( The overspending is not happening at the city/state level, it is happening at the Federal level. )

I am not following you, help me out. The supreme court rendered no laws that prevented the local state authorities to stop an eminent domain process. In effect they stated this is a local issue, dealt best at the local level.

How is the federal government involved? The issue up north is strictly a private developer acting on behalf of local authorities, to fill the state coffers.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird · Jun 30, 2005

( they stated this is a local issue, dealt best at the local level )

And apparently state legislatures are already working on it, as they are in Texas.

Junkman · Jun 30, 2005

The over spending is because of the high enrollment in the school systems and the wages of school teachers and administration. In CT, the cost of educating one child is between $6000 - $9000. This is one of the root cause of high taxes. The Federal government is mandating a lot of other things such as special education for disabled children and this is also extremely expensive. There are cases in the school systems where a child with a mental age of 3 or 4, even though they are 12 is given one on one educational instruction until they reach the age of 18. Their learning ability is extremely low, and what this "education" is in reality is nothing more than baby sitting the child for 7 hours a day at taxpayers expense of $50,000 a year or more. I am not against education for the disabled, but I don't agree with all that is being done in the name of education. Special needs children should have education, but some are beyond the realm of learning. These special education laws are also a result of a Supreme Court ruling. The American model of education is to spend the greatest amount of money on the children that will get the least benefit from that expenditure. The European education model is to spend the greatest amount of money on the children that will get the greatest educational benefit. This is why many of the worlds children are scoring higher in math and science than American children. They put the greatest resources to the group that will receive the greatest benefit.

Cityboyfarmer · Jun 30, 2005

( The European education model is to spend the greatest amount of money on the children that will get the greatest educational benefit. This is why many of the worlds children are scoring higher in math and science than American children. They put the greatest resources to the group that will receive the greatest benefit. )

Don't want to get too far off topic, but I keep hearing how good Europe's and other country's educational systems are compared to the U.S. There is no doubt we could do better, but as bad as it is here, it is the United States who stays on the cutting edge of science, technology and medicine, far ahead of the rest of the world. So we may not have the high "average" math scores but our best and brightest outshine the rest of the world.

With that said, we could spend our tax dollars far better if we eliminated property tax all together and replaced it with a consumption tax. That way our private property will no longer be a target for greedy politicians to assess in the name of "education" and the "children". With a consumption (sales) tax system, everyone must pay with no exemptions. That is the only fair way to collect taxes.

Back to the schools. Why is it that the private schools here in my community provide a superior education to the government schools for an average of $5,000 annually but the government schools spend twice that? The answer is accountability. Take politicians out of the equation and costs decrease while quality increases. It is simple really, but we have managed to make it difficult on ourselves by placing the responsibility of educating our children on a government bureaucrat instead of taking personal responsibility for our own children's education. And then we gripe about the sorry results.

Cityboyfarmer · Jun 30, 2005

( The overspending is not happening at the city/state level, it is happening at the Federal level. )

It is happening at both the federal and local level. The federal government loves to mandate spending for state governments, both funded and unfunded. Our Macon Ga. city government spends money on golf carts, sending the mayor on trips to Africa, sending city council and county commissioners to Hawii for meetings, new football stadiums we don't need....the list goes on and on. This is happening all over America and it will not stop until WE make it stop.

So it is not just Washington D.C. that is overspending. Local politicians love to spend your money just as much as your congressman does.