Does anyone else live in NJ and love the absurd property taxes and how little your money buys you? I purchased my first home back in April of 2012 in Central jersey. It had caught fire the year before and was purchased by contractors who redid the entire thing. It sold for 259k. It was a 900 sq foot home and the property taxes were 6600 a year last time I checked. I have since moved to a different house with my wife, but you get the point.
Sounds like my house, 1000 sqft, 6600 in taxes, central jersey
Yea, we don't get much bang for buck with our taxes here, but I love the area and being close to NYC and not far from Philly. I think that is where I find the value in location (lots of jobs and concerts), not what my tax money returns to me. I also don't have kids so not like I'm finding value in my local school system (although I support it).
So, you're mandatorily paying for something that you don't intend to ever use. Imagine that!
Not a dig at you specifically at all - it's a dig at how people can lose their shit over this philosophy for healthcare, but accept it when it comes to (the property tax contribution towards) education.
Not at all the same thing.
When I pay for YOUR healthcare, and you smoke, drink diet soda (the Devil's Semen), and not bother to get annual checkups, it's money sent to the ether. When I pay property taxes - which, by the way, I do - not only does not all of it go to "education", but even when it does, it goes to brick and mortar assets that I reap benefits from (indirectly) in other ways. I am also funding salaries that contribute to the town in various ways, and I also increase - in some cases - the value of my town in terms of desireability and property value.
I live in Northern CT now, and the school system in my town BLOWS. My son is out, my daughter is out, my other daughter now goes to private school in CT, and my youngest son is in a special program. We're having him tested and the hope is we can get him out of there and into a special school. Having said that, there is still value brought to the community for paying for that. When I lived in Glastonbury, CT, - where the schools are outstanding (Top Ten in the state) - we got a noticeable bump in property values for same. I grew up in a small(er) town in CT, and they are a top ten in the state school system; what was a farm community (my grandparents built their own house when my mom was a little girl) is now probably a stretch for me financially to live in. But, also unlike healthcare, I can move a short distance, have all the amenities of my community, and NOT pay for a school system that I don't use, or that doesn't bring me value.
Contrast with your vaunted healthcare, where people are paying more than ever for healthcare, are being penalized by even HIGHER taxes for not contributing, 80% of Americans want the current system repealed or revamped, and it led good, diligent Americans - who are not racist, who voted for Obama - to decide our best option was a media-whore businessman with no elected experience whatsoever.
Not at all the same thing.