Maryland is the worst place to retire
- Thread starter vraiblonde
- Start date
If I am not mistaken we had a Republican governor a few years back and things wen't much better. Unions have their problems but the problem today with Maryland isn't Unions . The Problem in Maryland is the voters .Besides the high burden of taxes Maryland throws out to you. Sales, income, property, gas etc., I think just the horrible traffic we suffer,
even in lovely St. Mary's we are held hostage between 6:00am until 9:00am....11:00am until 1:00pm and then 3:00pm unit 6m.
Then you have Prince Frederick, Waldorf and Brandywine gridlock. I am not even talking about commuting to DC, Annapolis or Baltimore for work from anywhere, especially from MoCo, PG or AA counties. The gridlock north of Baltimore is some of the worse in the country.
Then from May to October a weekend at the "Ocean Hon".....it's impossible unless you want to leave on a Wednesday between 2:00 and 4:00.
That what happens when you have a bunch in DEMS ripping off all the taxes and fees for their Union buddies and do not put it into infrastructure projects.
End of Rant
BOP
Well-Known Member
BOP
Well-Known Member
The only one I have blocked is Spastic. His posts are like watching movies with the Seizure Warnings. I love Tranny. She's our very own AOC, right here on our boards. I want to buy Tranny gear such as mugs, t-shirts, book bags, and the like.
that's why in the 70's NJ put the property tax rebate into effect. People who were paying absurdly high real estate tax bills weren't in expensive homes, just in expensive neighborhoods (i.e old house - before the community growth took off).
Real estate tax is one of the most fickle taxes, along with the occupation tax (not to be confused with a wage or income tax) - it simply taxes you on your job title. Surprise, lawyer doesn't get taxed as much as custodial engineer. But then, the janitors didn't write the rules.
Putting artificial caps on property taxes has its own problems. California has done that and it creates its own set of inequities.
The answer is not to put caps on taxes. The answer is not to spend like drunken sailors.
So, I would have to assume you'd prefer to live surrounded by your own crap?
If that question made any sense I might try to answer it. Alas.....
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Just dump it in the river like the good lord intended. Or you know, get a septic system.
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Your complaint about MetCom. I'm not in here alot, but looking at some other posts I assume you live on SGI, so you are connected to MetCom. Isn't being connected better than living with a failing system, or the worry of a failing system & all the money that costs? Trying to understand your complaint I suppose ....
Back to the topic in another thread, that we have to hold the elected officials accountable. Unfortunately elected officials are not full time or even part time employees. They get a marginal sum to attend meetings, not nearly enough for them to give up their day job.
Therefore they rely on the administrative staff of the organization they have oversight on. School board members use the information and recommendation from the superintendent. Township/Town/County boards rely on the professional administrator they've hired and the staff.
You can see there is a little bit of a conflict of interest that could exist. People simply have to show up at budget hearings and ask questions.
If you don't like what the elected board has done, vote them out. Run for office, or get someone you trust to run.
Just don't forget, the people demand services and as a community grows and federal and state regulations change, the cost of doing business increases.
Also we may want to rethink the method by which we allow local (including county) governments and schools to raise revenue.
Maybe it's time to retire the real estate tax and replace it with something more equitable and easier to collect.
Real estate value is probably the worst ways of tracking with the cost of living. Housing prices might drop, while the cost of energy, insurance and food goes up.
Some places out west assess the cost of road projects based on your feet of highway frontage. Sucks to own a corner lot.
Many things the government does should be covered by fees, not taxes and many of the things government does shouldn't be done by government in the first place. Thank god, trash collection is private around here, I can pay for WM to come by once a week or I can drive to the transfer station and pay by the bag. Street maintenance could simply go by how many feet it is from your driveway to the next state highway. County can charge you $x/ft for providing a roadway to the state highway (which is funded by the fuel tax). There are some expenses that benefit everyone equally (e.g. providing a police force), those should probably be covered by a head-tax.
The problem is that 3/4 of the property tax bill is eaten by the school district. As its set up right now, a retiree living on a valuable piece of property pays to send joe trailerparks 7 kids to school. Its probably not realistic to cover the cost of schooling out of user fees, but there should be some participation by those who keep popping out kids without much concern about who is going to feed and educate them.
What "complaint"? I was simply noting the contributors to the fixed monthly costs associated with the property that, together, add up to $1000.
If I closed it all up and just let it all sit empty...the tax bill and the MetCom bill will always still be due.
MetCom is a great org....super responsive.
not just "out west", when out neighborhood went from private septic to public sewer, your cost was assessed at the front foot - not eve square feet, so a corner lot really hurt. That was in PA, the SE corner.
IF real estate is not an equitable tax, than a head tax isn't really either. It has no basis on ability to pay.
Do agree, that we need to define what services we want our governments, at all levels, to provide. I think the municipal trash pick up is supposed to provide an economy of scale benefit for the people and assure all have trash service (no excuse to store it in your yard. This probably good for planned communities and suburban areas where there is a higher housing density. Probably no benefit in rural areas.
Police, Fire, rare now to find a purely all volunteer fire service in this day and age. Some departments have maybe a few paid people on call.
Schools, double edge sword, good schools attract employers, who in most areas pay rather hefty real estate taxes and other fees. Employers attract people who wan jobs. That means health service etc. What's happening in Appalachia is coal (the main industry) shuts down and eventually those who can get out, leave. Those left behind are the old and in-firmed. Communities with no fire, police or health services and people who can barely take care of themselves. You can image the type of activity that those areas attract. That's to say, good schools are one of those things that keeps a town vital, brings in the new blood, keeps people there for generations. So there is a good case for public funding.
Bean Machine
Member
That is EXACTLY what we are going to do! We'll be domiciled in South Dakota for many reasons: No state income tax, very low car registration fees, you can get drivers license, cars registered, voter ID , and a physical address (mail service company) all in less than 24 hours. Probably will actually end up settling there....or Eastern Tennessee.
Thanks for the clarification
winterspring
Member
I moved up from Florida, same Car, same size house, new job.
Car insurance costs doubled from USAA.
House taxes from the county, were $1800 a year in Florida, and that went to to $5200 here in MD.
Just the Facts Jack.
Oh and Florida had no Income tax, yep its 6% in Maryland.
Car insurance costs doubled from USAA.
House taxes from the county, were $1800 a year in Florida, and that went to to $5200 here in MD.
Just the Facts Jack.
Oh and Florida had no Income tax, yep its 6% in Maryland.