!!??.. I thought you we're studying to be a lawyer?

You should'nt use lawyer and dude in the same thought,let alone the same phrase...very offensive to us dudes...

Not so nice to lawyers. Shenanigans!

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Isaac - Groton, CT

And, Rick, if the depreciation tables don't reflect the market, I'm all for revisiting them.

I'm just saying that the two provisions in the law don't seem unreasonable policy steps. Maybe you'd be less irked if the CT legislature had kept up with inflation on all of its tax schedules, but the cap would be rising either way, and it would be the same number this year, either way.

Compare yourself to antique car owners thirty and forty years ago, and you would be forced to admit that your $500 tax (and it's a cap, remember) is a much less painful thing than theirs.

Kinda sucks, I know, but if we're going to have a special motor vehicle tax cap for antique cars at all, then we can't really get too upset when the government exercises its authority to move it, least of all when it does so simply to retain the original value of the tax.

Look at it the other way: CT could treat #13 like it treats my car. Some might argue (not me; please be nice) that a car is a car, so why have a tax at all?

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Isaac - Groton, CT

Oh boy, Mark, did you hit one of my "hot buttons." I couldn't agree
with you more. I have been paying property taxes all of my adult
life, over half of which goes to the education budget. Since I have
never been blessed to have had a child, this means that for around
50 years, I have been paying for other peoples' kids' education, but
have NEVER been on the receiving end. It's a real sore point with me.

My solution is very simple. Keep the Education budget separate from
the town/city operating budget. Use the LOWER property taxes to fund
the operating budget. Then divide the education budget by the number
of kids in the school system and assess the parents that amount over
and above their contribution to the operating budget. If the amount
comes out to $1000 per kid, and a family has 5 kids in the school
system, their bill is their property tax plus $5000.

The property taxes would be less than 50% of what they are now;
so seniors who never had kids, or whose kids graduated long ago,
do not continue to be saddled with the burden of educating someone
else's kids, and could better afford to stay in their homes, particularly
if on a fixed retirement income.

The family with 10 kids will say, "I can't afford $10,000 on top of my
property tax." The answer is, "Then you should have shelled out a
measly couple of hundred bucks to get your tubes tied a long time
ago. YOU MADE A CHOICE. AND CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES."
~Rick~

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

And how about the family who sends their kids to private school (very costly), but still ends up paying their city/town taxes for the education of everyone else's kids?

This is why they say 'it takes a whole village to raise a child' ~ because EVERYBODY has to pay taxes for what that kid needs.

The Feds give you a tax break for the number of dependents you claim, but the childless families get no such break ~ and still have to pay for the education of the masses in their town.

FIX IT, ISAAC!

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1970 240Z

well, you have to admit that the population as a whole benefits from living in an educated society. But I would have no problem with making parents pay more in taxes if they decide to have more than two children. It's not just an issue of local tax expenses, it's also a matter of global consequences. I can drive an economical car and recycle for my whole life and have those global benefits destroyed by one couple who decides that they are entitled to have excess children.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it

Just think of the problems that
could be solved if the human race stopped reproducing.

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

Yeah ~ no joke Ross.

When JKF was killed in 1963 (in many of our own lifetimes) the world population was 3.5 Billion. Today it's very close to 8 Billion, and statisticians theorize there is NOTHING we can do (short of nuclear war or famine) to prevent us from reaching 10 Billion.

The earth can sustain 3.5-4.0 billion population indefinitely. Anything more than that causes damage to the ecosystems. We are WAYYY out of control here. The ONLY thing acceptable about same-sex unions is that they don't reproduce.

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1970 240Z

The problem I have with the argument that "I don't have any kids, so I shouldn't have to pay taxes towards public education" is that it completely neglects to consider the benefit given to society by not having a bunch of brainless teenagers wandering the streets.

Even if you don't have kids, are you really sure you don't want to be contributing to the education of somebody else's? Think about all the harm an uneducated person can do, and think of all the good that an educated person can do. Public education is a resource for everybody, not just those who participate in it.

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Isaac - Groton, CT

Been to a mall lately?

Yeah ~ if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

But I drive on the same roads as some of these teens, and where our tax money is going sure ain't showing.

Frank

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1970 240Z

Careful what you wish for, guys. Sounds like you're asking for more funds to go to public education.

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Isaac - Groton, CT