Lord knows how high they'll hiked... 
the martini tax!
Posted on 12/31/2018 9:03:05 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
While wages have supposedly gone up 3.4% in 2018, taxes and fees are rising at much higher rates.
Here's a list of tax and fee increases hitting residents of one of the counties I call home; the list includes taxes/fees raised in 2017 and 2018:
1. Property taxes: between 6.5% and 10%, depending on the property class
2. Gasoline tax (county), from 8.8 cents to 23 cents, phased in over 3 years
3. General excise tax, up 6.3%
4. Garbage fee (commercial): up 27%
5. Sewer fees: up 44%
6. Electricity (base rate): up 7.4%
7. Annual vehicle safety inspection fee (state): up $5.81
8. County water service: up 8%
9. Accommodation fee (a.k.a. hotel tax) (state): up 10%
I may have missed a few, but you get the idea: while wages have supposedly gone up 3.4% in 2018, taxes and fees are rising at much higher rates. (Given that the Consumer Price Index underweights increases in big-ticket costs such as healthcare and college, the 3.4% gain is suspect; those households exposed to giant leaps in expenses likely lost ground).
I understand local governments are caught in a vise: wages and benefits to their employees make up the majority of their expenses, and those costs are mandated by union contracts and/or state-level agreements.
Many local governments cut services in the Great Recession rather than raise fees and taxes, and so now that the economy has "recovered," they're rushing to raise revenues to restore services or deal with the backlog of projects set aside during the lean years.
But none of that makes it easier for households and enterprises getting hit by fast-rising fees and taxes. The above list is just the tip of the iceberg: how much does a simple parking ticket cost you now? In many locales, what once cost $15 is now north of $60.
How about the cost for a copy of an official document at the County Records office? In many locales, what was once a nominal fee is no longer nominal.
We all know public pensions are often underfunded, or dependent on outsized stock market gains, which means the increases in local government taxes and fees are just getting started.
https://www.oftwominds.com/photos2018/taxpayers-pensions.png
Nothing has rocketed higher than my Comcast bill. It is now more per month than my water, gas, and electric bills combined.
“How Many of Your Local Taxes and Fees Are Rocketing Higher?”
All of them.
A good percentage are taxes and fees. Dump TV. You’ll not regret it.
This last election astonished me. The electorate in my district was incensed that the GOP limited their SALT deductions. The erudite suburban voter promptly went out and punished the GOP not only at the congressional level but at the local level. The result, not only will they not get their SALT deduction back, they voted to actually increase their State and Local Income Taxes.
The disconnect is mind boggling.
Just curious.......Where do you call home?
Re. Comcast Bill:
It is amazing. My Cablevision (now Altice) Bill is that high as well. We have had enough and are cutting the cord. Even with internet only service, a live streaming service and on demand for the channels we like we will pay $120 less per month.
Added to that, we switched providers and they gave us a one year break on the internet.
Bum care tax.
Lord knows how high they'll hiked... the martini tax!
Mine (Comcast) is super low at 25mbps. TV was ditched so internet only for $20/month. When we had TV it was rarely watched anyway. I have to get my HD TV antennae up but no rush. It would be for PBS...very selective PBS of course.
The only current TV I like is Ray Donovan anyway and there are alt. ways of acquiring it. I also liked The Last Ship.
FWIW...at least where I live. Comcast will deduct $5/month if you sign up for paperless billing AND automatic deduction from a credit card or bank account. Gotta do both.
Hennepin County ( Minneapolis) property taxes going up6.9%. No improvements to property in years ( that they know about).
Somebody has to pay for all the free stuff the millions of skinnies get.
Arizona has a RINO republican governor. Very disappointed. Doubled vehicle registration fees/taxes. Raised income tax. Is for gun control. I don’t what it is about AZ that produces these bad pols but I’m sick of it. McCain and Flake were the worst of the worst.
Pay more, get less.
It’s a good thing that politicians don’t run everything.
Does this make any sense without being linked to a state??
I doubt that all states raised those taxes.
Our taxes & fees here may not have rocketed, but they are certainly climbing. When you are on fixed income, this should not be allowed. I just wonder if once they get everything we have, will that even be enough? That’s the way things are headed, & in some things there is absolutely no justification for these increases. It seems that unions are much of the problem, where they are prevalent.
ie your tag line...
‘Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.’
We are in North Idaho and were able to buy “TV Choice” from Spectrum instead of conventional cable TV. It is TV delivered “over the top,” i.e., via the Internet. You run a Spectrum app on a box like Roku, just like the Amazon or Netflix app. We get basic cable and a choice of ten additional stations. Our price is $70/month for both the TV channels and 100 Mbps internet service. That is a HUGE savings over Comcast. That is our first year starter rate; I think it goes up $10/month at the one year anniversary.
You must be in NJ; we elected a Dem 1%er as governor AFTER he publicly stated he would raise taxes (in one of the highest-taxed states in the nation). The message is clear; there are more people voting for, and receiving these tax funds, than paying them.
With the standard deduction nearly doubling, this limit on the SALT deductions will effect far fewer people than the lying media admits (many who itemize may return to the standard deduction anyway, and come out ahead). The opposition came from wealthy people (who may pay higher federal income taxes), because those people control the message anyway.
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