It’s always talked about in the media as if everyone cares, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a normal person complain.
I’m fine paying what I pay, but I reserve the right to question the quality of services they pay for.
Property taxes bug me a lot. The tax has gone up over 10% each of the past 3 years. It’s adding a lot to my mortgage.
Texas sucks. Everyone talks about how much it has a low cost of living and minimal taxes because there is not a state income tax, then the homeowners insurance rates go up or get cancelled and you can count on property taxes going up 10% annually. We bought our house in 2016 and the amount has gone up 10% every year since, not including the other bond issues which increase the tax rate on top of the existing rate.
I pay quite a bit in Denmark, but used to live in the US.
I pay more taxes now (not THAT much more but definitely more). However I see what I get for my taxes here: healthcare, bicycle lanes, cheap and very good trains/metro/ferries/buses everywhere, etc., and sooo much support for people. It makes me proud to pay taxes here, even though of course I always want more in my pocket and I want more for my money.
In the US I hated the taxes because I paid more than rich people (as they pay nearly none) and I didn’t feel like i got a lot from them.
No problem with taxes as a concept, but I hate how the US uses tax money
If you get within earshot of a Republican, chances are you’ll hear complaints about “damn taxes” within five minutes. So to a certain set of people, definitely everyone they talk to is constantly complaining about taxes.
When I was starting out and making little money, the taxes I paid were definitely cutting into my ability to live. I think instead of “standard deductions” we should have real minimum incomes. If you are under the minimum income for your location, you don’t pay taxes.
Now that I am at the end of my career, I think it’s stupid that my taxes are not higher. If I could have given young me some of the money I am keeping now, I would have had a much better life overall. I obviously can’t do that now, but I can give someone else the same breathing room.
If you are under the minimum income for your location, you don’t pay taxes.
Then what if you start earning more, suddenly have to pay taxes and end up getting the same or even less than before?
That is not how taxes work. If you earn the minumum income or less, you pay no taxes. If you are above the minimum, you pay taxes on the amount that surpasses the minimum only, so there is no way of getting less if you earn more.
I am perpetually shocked at how many people don’t understand marginal tax rates, and I truly think ignorance of them is used to confuse people about how wages work.
I only cared when I was poor and living paycheck to paycheck.
No (US). Those who loudly complain are generally conservatives who can’t understand how marginal tax rates and brackets work.
Yes though only because of the noticeable lack of benefit I get from paying tax such as piss poor infrastructure, lack of affordable health care, virtually no public transport etc.
I have heard folks distantly related to me talk like the state tax rate was pretty damn important when selecting which part of the United States to move to.
They were the sort of people that would sit ( in their living room in New Zealand ) and watch fox news and go on the engineered logical and emotional weirdcoaster that sort of media offers up. This is some pretty niche viewing for folks in my country.
Did their viewing habits affect their opinion of property taxes?
I’m not sure. They could have been describing that to me, but because the local body funding mechanism we have here is called rates rather than property taxes I could have easily got that confused in with the state tax discussion.
I was kind of astounded that a spreadsheet of tax rates would play a significant part in a decision of where you were going to live.
In California, yes. Moreso because taxes keep rising but services keep dwindling.
You’re fucking high, California income taxes are very well structured. At $880k my taxes after deductions were like $30k.
Personal income, and even business income, absolutely agreed (my personal for the year was $10k or just shy of 10%, my corp tax was about $900, not bad at all). It’s the other nickel and dimeing CA is famous for. Fuel taxes, property taxes because home values are now sky high, DMV fees, and then all your municipal taxes, and then all your varied county/municipal sales taxes, and plenty of others I’m not thinking of right now, and of which added together are exorbitant compared to other states. Now, don’t get me wrong, you certainly get what you pay for in terms of great weather and good quality of life compared to other states, as well as many other benefits, but let’s not pretend for a second that California isn’t a fucking expensive place to live. I was born and raised here, I’ve lived elsewhere, and I am not leaving, but absolutely California is pricey.
Cool story bro, move to Texas A.K.A. Fuck around and find out how high taxes get.
