Get Ready for Increases in State Fees and Taxes
State taxes and fees are set to rise this year because just about every state is having a budget shortfall.
At least 10 states are considering some kind of major increase in sales or income taxes: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. California and New York lawmakers already have agreed on multibillion-dollar tax increases that went into effect earlier this year.
Aren’t most of those states “progressive”? Lots of tax and spend in these states. I hate when the local governments raise fees because when times are good they hardly ever come back down. Sure taxes sometimes are lowered but the fees are what is killing us. They raise fees for stuff like fishing, which is fine if the fees benefit fishing habitat and conservation and the like. But no, they use the money to shore up the general budget shortfall. It’s criminal.
Here’s what I don’t get: Why didn’t these states put away some money just in case things got bad? See, the responsible among you save some money. If you get laid off you have 6-9 months of living expenses saved up just in case. As things get worse you stop eating out. You put off that vacation. You save a little more. It’s what reasonable people do.
Unfortunately it’s not what reasonable governments do. They don’t make meaningful cuts in spending. They don’t have any money saved up to use just in case. So to meet their commitments they make citizens pay even more, because they were irresponsible. State and local governments are required to balance the budgets, which is a good thing. Unfortunately when they don’t they have to be bailed out by the feds or by the people who work for a living, yet again. But you all voted for these imbeciles and expect all these services to be provided by the government. Welcome to your world.
Is it any wonder that thousands of people are going to be attending one of the 1,800+ Tea Party events on Wednesday?
I can tell you where I will never live. Just pick one of those states above. I’m guessing many businesses won’t be putting those states on the top of their lists to locate or relocate either. Taxes and fees tend to do that.
Recent Comments