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It's the same fight | 94 comments (94 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: It's the same fight (none / 1)
I'm comparing the US to Italy.

I got hit last year with the AMT because of a peculiar real estate circumstance. That was 28% in my bracket (without AMT I would have been at 25%). Add in SS and Medicare and that puts me at 40%. Tag on 7% in state tax, and I'm up to 47% (it was worse when I lived in Yonkers, NY, where you have an extra income tax, then that was 49%). My local property taxes are 15% of my salary. Yup. I have a house that is less than the national median for homes (sub 250k) and I pay over 10k in local property tax on it. In addition, my locality charges 1.5k in service a year. In total, I pay 64% in taxes a year. That's more than my friends in Italy pay total.

I realize that the Scandanavians are in the 70% range, but America is not the home of low taxes unless you're rich and live in Mississippi. Then and only then may you get away with cheaper taxes.

As for VAT and Sales Tax, can we really measure those?

by Upstate NY on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 02:49:50 AM EST
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Re: It's the same fight (none / 0)
This is a very wierd situation you're in. A high tax state, a special case, apparently a local government that is completely out of control.
by asdf on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 09:15:03 AM EST
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Welcome to New York.
by Upstate NY on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 10:32:32 AM EST
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My local property taxes are 15% of my salary. Yup.
Hey, I feel for you on this one.  That is really incredible.  I live in Kalifornia, which I've thought is crazy, but at least we got the property tax side of things right, IMO.
As for VAT and Sales Tax, can we really measure those?
Occassionally you say those pie charts that show how a countries GDP is broken down by who spends the money (government versus private) and, often, then shown by the source of the government's money.  I did a quick search last night and couldn't find one,,,but one we'll pop up in the next year or so, and I'll try to remember to post a diary on it.  But this captures the VAT and different state income taxes--I think you are right it would be difficult otherwise, though one could make some analytical estimates.
by wchurchill on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 11:47:23 AM EST
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Re: It's the same fight (none / 0)
California swung like a pendulum from one extreme on the property tax scale to the other. The effects of prop 13 are starving the state and local governments.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 11:56:50 AM EST
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Re: It's the same fight (none / 0)
I guess my perspective on that would be different, and more in line with the California homeowners, who want crazy when Warren Buffet as advisor to Arnie, suggested changing that property tax.  IMO, and theirs, it is simply outrageous for people to work all their lives in CA, retire, only to have their housing prices grow insanely,,,,,and then be unable to retire in the home they have lived in for, say 25 years.

Now, I would agree with you if that was the states only source of tax revenue, but it's not.  State sales tax is among the highest in the country, at about 9.5%,,,,sales tax is also high, in the 8--9% range depending....And the property tax does go up for the change in CPI.

starving the state and local governments.
Give me a break.  Why can't we expect our politicians to manage within reasonable budgets??  these politicians here are totally loopy, and incompetent regarding managing spending.
by wchurchill on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 12:20:38 PM EST
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Remember when Gray Davis proposed to roll back the car tax rebate () because of the state's budget woes? Arnie run on a platform consisting essentially of "I'll repeal the car tax" and within weeks of being elected he declareda budget emergency. I call that a responsible fiscal policy. Not.

() The legislature had voted to waive the car tax as long as the state budget could afford it, but then people got used to it and the Republicans sold "rolling back the waiver" as "instituting a new tax".

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 12:26:04 PM EST
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Re: It's the same fight (none / 0)
Yikes, sorry about the bolding. It's unintentional.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 12:26:50 PM EST
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Re: It's the same fight (none / 0)
I do agree with how you characterize that car tax situation.  
by wchurchill on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 12:43:10 PM EST
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It's the same fight | 94 comments (94 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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