FLA?

[JanTM]

If some states do not have state taxes... how do these states pay for whatever they have to pay for? How do they "earn their money"?

[Cleo]

I'm guessing that Florida pays for things with all its tourist income on goods and services sold to them. We also have a state lottery and other types of gambling plus citrus and sugar cane is grown here in the more remote parts of the state. Florida does have a state sales tax that you pay when you buy most things, not unprepared food. It's 6% but some cities like Miami have an additional .5% sales tax to pay for public transportation.

California has a state income tax but it also has better state services then Florida like education and health care for the poor. The cost of living in California is fucking insane.

[Useless]

Whereas in NY, we have one of the higher state income taxes and sales tax so that we can afford to keep NYC clean and crime-free. Ha!

All hail the rust belt.

[JanTM]

Cleo,
Ah I see. Amazing that .5% can actually pay for public transportation. Maybe we could learn something there.

Originally Posted by Cleo

California has a state income tax but it also has better state services then Florida like education and health care for the poor. The cost of living in California is fucking insane.

Hehe... Whiner

My income tax is 44%, and every item you can buy in a store in Denmark has a 25% sales tax on it. Of course the sales taxes are not shown seperately... prices are just higher.

[pornrex]

I was wondering when you were gonna pipe up

[JanTM]

eh?... pipe up?

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by JanTM

Cleo,
Ah I see. Amazing that .5% can actually pay for public transportation. Maybe we could learn something there.

Yeah but it sucks. Actually it is just to pay for this bit of elevated train section that was built about 20 years ago plus another line that runs through downtown. It serves a very limited section of town.
This
http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/trans...ilstations.asp
and this
http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/trans...erstations.asp
The second one is a robotic rail with no driver.

[pornrex]

Originally Posted by JanTM

eh?... pipe up?

Sorry JanTM...Wrong response to the wrong person.

[cd34]

Our extra .5% sales tax goes towards education. I remember the elections, anyone that wanted to raise taxes was voted out of office, yet, the Sales Tax addendum won almost 70% of the vote. Seemed rather hypocritical to me. One of the Condos I was looking at is on the PeopleMover line right next to the Miami Herald building. That line is not very well laid out at all.

[Cleo]

I lived in Miami when they were building it. I really thought I remembered them voting in the 5% for it. Could be wrong, it was the drug seventies and things are a bit hazy from back then. I do remember for sure that we all were wonder why the fuck they built it the way the did. It's useless to most of Dade County.

I do know that when I lived in San Francisco that we paid an extra 5% for B.A.R.T. (Bay Area Rapid Transportation). San Francisco has excellent pubic transportation.

[cd34]

They might have in Miami - Palm Beach County just voted in the .5% sales tax addendum to fund schools. At the same time people asked for $.08/gallon of the gas tax to be repealed, reduction in the millage rates for Property tax and confirming the 3% FCT cap.

So, we cause vote trauma, vote against every tax because things are too costly, then vote in a sales tax increase to help schools, and our schools are now floating short-term bonds because they aren't getting as much from the sales tax as they had budgeted.

Why didn't I get a degree in business.

[JanTM]

Pornrex... no worries

[Cleo]

Article in today's paper about how expensive houses have gotten here and how bad the shortage is and why.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines

"We just don't have enough inventory," said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, which has 13 offices in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. "It's the lowest inventory I've seen in my 30 years here."

Sellers are increasingly reluctant to put their homes on the market when they consider how much more they'll pay in taxes on a new home, said Richard Teboul, a Realtor with the Keyes Co. in Fort Lauderdale.

"They know they'll have no problem selling it and they'll get full price or more," Teboul said. "But then where do they go when the taxes make it very expensive to move?"

In Florida, property taxes can rise only 3 percent a year on homesteaded property. But once you move, your taxes will be based on the market price of the new home. That could double or triple a tax bill.

While sellers may be wary of listing their homes, buyers are making multiple offers and often end up losing a string of properties. Buyers are resorting to making offers at or above an owner's list price. And they begin to get desperate because they know a similar property will only cost more next month, said Ann DeFries, president of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

[Robbo]

I moved back to NY from Los Angeles. I guess I just can`t get enough of taxes! But I`m in country so it`s way more layed back than NYC and the LA thing. At least we could afford a house here!

[sue-fl]

I'm on the west coast and love it here! I live in town but the beach is less than a 10 minute drive. Summer time is tough here though it's very hot and humid, I just live in the air all the time. St.Petersburg is considered an old folks city but I disagree. The beach bars rock, tons of great bands. I'm the oldest on my block lots of young families have moved in. It's a great life for me here wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I grew up in Maine so know what cold is and don't miss it one bit!