Did you mean for this to be in Purple?!
Do you actually have a clue what your taxes pay for or are you just spouting off...
Been paying them for 35 years, yes I know what they go to. Just using some of the examples he chose.
Did you mean for this to be in Purple?!
Do you actually have a clue what your taxes pay for or are you just spouting off...
On the topic of taxes I would agree with the sentiment that any money taken from us through the threat of force more than once is completely immoral. It's not that most people out there don't agree that taxes provide services. It's that not everyone out there agrees that all these services net out to a value add.
I don't see what's wrong with fire departments charging for their services and I don't see what's wrong a person deciding that the cost of paying a yearly fee to the fire department is too much if they man up and accept the consequences of those risks. Most of us would agree that paying $100 over the course of a year is a very wise choice to have fire department coverage, but if that same cost was $15,000 per year I would argue that people shouldn't be forced to pay it under the penalty of the law if they're willing to watch their house being burned down and held liable for the damage to their property and what it causes to their neighbors property.
Personally, one of the reason I really really liked the fair tax (consumption based) was because it simplified the tax code enough to where a common person might have a chance to understand it. What we've currently got is a system that nobody but the thief understands and once we gain an understanding the thief changes the rules. In a much simpler explanation, the government is a pimp and you don't pay up for the services it provides you can expect a black eye or worse.
Off my rant and back to the topic. The amount of debt we all chose to carry is up to us. We could all agree that debt free is a big goal and an outstanding acheivement. However, there's also something to be said for living out your dreams. If you dream of 500 acres and a log cabin and have a means to make that happen, then go for it. You're getting into debt, but you have something you can put your hands on too. It's all a personal choice at the end of the day so long as you're going to accept responsibility for your decisions I don't see a problem either way.
I'm not paying down any debt right now except one of my wife's student loans that is still north of 5%.
I anticipate inflation will far out-pace my mortgage rate so it will be beneficial to hold onto the mortgage and buy other thing that will otherwise be rapidly inflating in price (food, fuel, and other "goods").
I'm just about ready to cash out some 401K, pay the penalty, and pay off my house. The value of money keeps getting to be less and less...so why not? I'd still have to pay the state property taxes or they will rape my dog and throw me off MY property. Property taxes on primary residences is nothing more than theft.
First of all, I would think long and hard before you cash in your 401K. Cashing it in the pay down your mortgage will not benefit you that greatly financially. Even if your 401k isn't making much, your true benefit will be relatively small unless you absolutely must be debt free.
Also, since you brought it up property tax isn't theft. It's a tax, just like all the other taxes. They're designed to help pay for the "services & conveniences" that you experience every day. Such as, your child going to school, you driving down the road, the fire-department that will respond to your house if it's burning down. That stuff has to be paid for somehow and they've determined that the burden should be shared relatively equally based upon your property value. IMHO that's a pretty fair way of doing it.
If we didn't have property taxes then we wouldn't have public schools so you would have to pay for private schools. If we didn't have property taxes you wouldn't have police, fire, or in some cases EMS services. You would have to pay to be a "member" of private fire districts etc such as they have in other states. Forgot to pay your membership fee this year? The firedepartment will stand there and watch your house burn down. The only reason they responded was to make sure the neighbors house doesn't catch fire; the neighbor paid his annual membership fees. That is a true story by-the-way. Happened in KY or TN IIRC. Guy forgot to pay the membership fees to the local private FD and they watched his house burn down while keeping the neighbors house safe from the fire.
Do you really want a life without any public services?
Same for police, protect me and my property from intrusion, violence, etc...I pay, show up after and take a report? Nothing!
So I vote for enormous 50 grand plus emergency fund.
This is my plan too...My thoughts are similar to those of dom1104. The only recurring debt I have is my mortgage, and its a 3.75%. While the mortgage interest deduction stays in effect, it's really more like 2.50%. I still have other places to put money that will return better than that. If I didn't, I would weigh very carefully the benefit of a 2.50% return and the building of very illiquid equity against having ready cash/commodities in hand. Currently I'm willing to service the mortgage loan and keep large sums of money available for emergencies/opportunities. As someone mentioned, you can always throw large chunks at the mortgage later. My financial strategy is more complex than this, but the philosophy stays the same - mortgages are historically cheap; if yours is fixed look hard at other opportunities before defaulting to paying it off.
I don't like taxes anymore than you do, but its the way the system works. Nothing is free, EVER. While privatizing all of the services that your property taxes go to pay for would probably mean more efficiency, it won't necessarily mean you pay less money. It merely gives you the option of paying it...Property tax IS theft. It is the state denying the citizens the right to property ownership. I haven't had any kids in a public school in decades, I'd prefer to see the schools all go for-profit, then if they produce they stay in business, if they fail, well we need ditch diggers too. There are other ways to pay for a fire department and police without stealing my home. Use your head.
When a man and woman work their lives to pay for a primary residence and a piece of real estate, why should they be denied the right to own it free and clear? What gives the state the right to steal from my heirs when it comes to my home?
Get real.
I don't like taxes anymore than you do, but its the way the system works. Nothing is free, EVER. While privatizing all of the services that your property taxes go to pay for would probably mean more efficiency, it won't necessarily mean you pay less money. It merely gives you the option of paying it...
To be honest, looking at the public school system from a glimpse it gives everybody an equal oppurtunity to excel as long as they put their minds to it and they have the support of their parents etc. It doesn't matter how much their parents make, how much they own, they all have an equal oppurtunity to learn. To completely privatize education (which is one of the largest portions of your property tax) would be very discriminatory against poor families unless the "private" schools were subsidized by the rich families that send their kids there in the way of charging rich families more than poor families.
I don't entirely disagree with him. I'm just making a point that things aren't free. Either way, it's all going to work out the same for the most part.I agree with pistol bob
Public services should be funded through some other taxing mechanism, either income or sales.