Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Will Work for Taxes
Safe Haven ^ | Jan 8 2008 | Thee Mogambo Guru

Posted on 01/09/2008 3:52:03 AM PST by databoss

"Instead of the town saying, 'Oh, my God! What kind of ravenous vampires have we become?' and lowering their...damned taxes, 'The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time...to help pay off some of their property taxes.'"

From AP, we can't believe our eyes when we read, "Plan Would Let Seniors Work to Pay Taxes". It seems that in Greenburgh, N.Y., the damned local government is eating the financial guts out of its citizens. For example, a 76-year old woman named Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check per month ($7,440 a year), and has to pay $12,000 a year in property taxes on the house that she has lived in for 43 years! ...

(Excerpt) Read more at safehaven.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-112 next last
To: Mr. Jeeves
I agree - because of the state of the RE and markets you are going to find more and more munis cash strapped and looking hungrily at anything they can get their hands on...Virginia just enacted several novel new RE taxes in '08 http://novabubblefallout.blogspot.com/

take a look at this link to see just how badly RE prices have fallen...and the MSM sez they have only fallen by 6-7% it's more like 60%

81 posted on 01/09/2008 7:28:19 AM PST by databoss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: ml/nj
try http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=6+GREENACRES+LN,+WHITE+PLAINS,+NY+10607&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.630055,104.238281&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=41.033083,-73.831902&spn=0.001991,0.002435&z=18
82 posted on 01/09/2008 7:32:01 AM PST by databoss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper
This story is about property taxes, not income taxes. Property taxes no matter where in the country you live are all about how much property and what's on it when it comes to taxes.

Property taxes, income taxes, what's the difference? I cost the government no more if I have a bigger house, or more land so my share of it should be the same as my neighbors. Here, in fact, the people with the biggest houses (not me) usually send their kids to private school so they cost the government less than I do, or did. (My kids are grown now. Hey! I cost the government less too!) Tax assessments should be uniform in dollars, not rate, for every entity within the jurisdiction that is being taxed. That's how to keep them down as the people at the margins will holler, just as they do with supposedly high gasoline prices. I could never figure out why the guy who drives a cab twelve hours a day has to pay higher income taxes than the one who drives eight hours a day, but I guess you have.

ML/NJ

83 posted on 01/09/2008 7:35:54 AM PST by ml/nj
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: ml/nj
That's the house I found. I got on Greenburgh's tax assessor's page and found the tax record for that property. It listed the total county/town & school tax as $4707.69 for 2007 with an assessed value of $16,800. That's not close to the article's claimed tax. Does she own any other property?

It looks like she is already getting a big reduction in taxes on two lines listed as AGED-ALL and SNR.STAR. What are those and do they apply to everyone or just some people like the elderly?

Does anyone know how to read NY tax records? If this was Ohio, it would list the "fair market value", the 35% assessed value and the tax on it instead of some assessed value which clearly is not close the the real property value.

84 posted on 01/09/2008 7:40:16 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: databoss
Actually I was thinking about having the picture pop up in my post as with the SRC tag, or some other; and then just stupidly posted the text for the link instead of posting an HREF as you did.

ML/NJ

85 posted on 01/09/2008 7:40:22 AM PST by ml/nj
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio
Here's an excerpt from the original article that I found on http://www.newsweek.com/id/81937/page/1:

The proposal has caused a stir in Greenburgh, a town of 90,000 in Westchester County, which has the nation's third-highest homeowner property taxes. The plan would be unusual if not unique in New York, but similar programs are considered successes in Colorado, Massachusetts, South Carolina and elsewhere. Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes _ perhaps $2,000 to the town _ and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills. Talking to Feiner last week at the town senior center, she said, "I would work as long as it was a job where I could sit." "You could be a receptionist!" Feiner said. "You could greet people right here, when they come in." "That I would love," Davison said.

86 posted on 01/09/2008 7:56:05 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio

mebbe she owes back taxes...


87 posted on 01/09/2008 7:56:05 AM PST by databoss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper
Journalism majors are trained to get emotional reactions,
not to maximize correct and informative content.

Not unlike actual propagandists, by the way.
(They do exist, despite popular opinion to the contrary.
It reminds me of the adage, "The greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist."

88 posted on 01/09/2008 8:27:00 AM PST by Teacher317 (Eta kuram na smekh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: databoss
Try http://tinyurl.com/2wf7et . This works and the URL is short !
89 posted on 01/09/2008 8:29:44 AM PST by CORedneck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: Emrys

Those are all valid points. My basic point is that those issues apply to ALL taxpayers — not just the ones who “can’t afford to pay” the taxes in question.


90 posted on 01/09/2008 8:30:48 AM PST by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper
This story has been making the rounds for a few weeks now. What I would like to know before jumping to conclusions, is what kink of house Audrey owns. Is it a 2 bedroom 1,800 square foot rambler sitting on a 1/4 acre lot, or an 6 bedroom 5,000 square foot Victorian mansion sitting on a 6 acre parcel? Does she have a nest egg worth millions to take care of her and her house till she dies, or is she house rich, cash poor and on verge of being put out on the street? There is not enough information here for me to get all upset.

Hard to say for sure. But put it this way... In NY, there are all sorts of governmental entities and most have a tax bill associated with them... For instance, with Greenburgh, you start with Westchester County, then the village of Greenburgh, then the actual town you live in, such as Scarsdale or Ardsley. So she may be living in a really nice place, but then again, the housing "values" in that area are really astronomical.

Mark

91 posted on 01/09/2008 9:25:43 AM PST by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper

Great find...what Mr. Feiner says is priceless...


92 posted on 01/09/2008 9:30:14 AM PST by databoss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
Who asked you to open your wallet? For all you know this woman may have voted for opponents to the extreme taxation and may have actively petitioned others to do the same and yet would still find herself in this same predicament. I found not one line asking for money, but since you mentioned the founding principles of this great nation I do believe a bit of sympathy would be within principle. So I guess you can take your paycheck and put it someplace safe, I have some suggestions but will refrain from Huckabeeing you in deference to this wonderful platform Mr. Robinson has been so kind to provide.
93 posted on 01/09/2008 9:32:35 AM PST by Camel Joe (liberal=socialist=royalist/imperialist pawn=enemy of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Camel Joe
I think you misunderstand me here. If I lived in her town I'd be on her side. But that still leaves both of us with the same three alternatives I presented earlier: (1) change the government; (2) overthrow the government; or (3) move somewhere else.

Anyone with a basic understanding of New York's demographic situation knows that an alarming number of productive citizens are taking Option (3) these days.

94 posted on 01/09/2008 9:45:59 AM PST by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: MarkL

Oops... I got it backwards... It’s the town of Greenburgh, and villages of Scarsdale and Ardsley...

It’s been a while since I lived there. While I graduated from Ardsley high school, our mailing address was Scarsdale.

Mark


95 posted on 01/09/2008 9:51:21 AM PST by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
As a resident of the West Virginia part of NY, Finger lakes Region, I too aspire to leave the lefties. It is your attitude of “well screw em if their taxes are too high” that has riled me. Personally I would not hesitate to sell and collect the benefit of all those years of appreciation, but I don't own HER property. Taxation is fast becoming cruel and unusual punishment.
96 posted on 01/09/2008 10:08:13 AM PST by Camel Joe (liberal=socialist=royalist/imperialist pawn=enemy of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: B-Chan

The birth of the Servile State? Ping


97 posted on 01/09/2008 2:39:36 PM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: camle
if this isn’t outrageous, then what is?

No-brainer: The spectacle of "conservatives" defending involuntary servitude, "work until you drop, and then lose your house" treatment of "the greatest generation."

We have lost our souls.

About 30 or 40 years ago, I read a story in National Geographic. It was about some "culture" in some jungle somewhere, which dealt with its "elderly problem" in a most efficient manner. When someone got too old and weak to provide for himself, he was carried out into the jungle -- by his children -- and left to die.

During the time they were putting the story together, they encountered a strapping young man carrying his father out into the jungle, to abandon him to die.

They had photographs of them -- the old man was carried on his son's back, riding out to his death. The reporter and photographer were aghast, and tried reasoning with him. They begged him not to take his father out to die. They plead with him, they said look, he's your father, he raised you, he cared for you, he provided for you. You can't just haul him out and dump in in the woods to die!

Eventually, they prevailed! The guy turned around, and started carrying his father back to the village.

But then, he ran into the other villagers, who laughed at him, ridiculed him, mocked and insulted him, and he could not take it any longer, so he turned right back around again, carried the old man out to the jungle, and dropped him off to die.

Looks like "modern" civilization is returning to its roots.

For this The Founders fought and died, and sacrified their lives and fortunes?

98 posted on 01/09/2008 4:21:51 PM PST by Don Joe (We've traded the Rule of Law for the Law of Rule.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper; camle
The original article that started this whole "pull at your heart strings story" had a quote from her where it said that she loved the idea of getting to work again.

The Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well in Greenburgh, N.Y.

As someone once put it, the perfect slave thinks he's free.

99 posted on 01/09/2008 4:23:31 PM PST by Don Joe (We've traded the Rule of Law for the Law of Rule.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: Dixie Yooper
It appears to me that she should be thinking of selling, or get her family to help her out. If the local, county or state steps in to protect her, then it turns into a nanny-state situation.

Yeah, the nerve of that greedy old witch! What makes her think she's somehow entitled to own her house, simply because she's paid for it and lived in it for most of her life?

Taxland Uber Alles!

100 posted on 01/09/2008 4:27:28 PM PST by Don Joe (We've traded the Rule of Law for the Law of Rule.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-112 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson