The Never Ending Tax List - Freeze-Frame Radio

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

RE: The Never Ending Tax List

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

MzHartz wrote:

And I bet they wonder why people are moving out of Michigan:
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/index.php

Also, on the soda tax, I've noticed taxes are also used as a penalty. If they don't want you consuming it in one form or another, they add an extra tax to it. Cigarettes, alcohol, junk food, fast food...

You're right, they call it a sin tax.

But because this is on all soda, not just regular, it didn't strike me as such a tax.

They can CLAIM it's because of the cost to the state when people get sick from these "sinful" items that make them drunk, or fat, or give em' lung cancer. Though I've always seriously questioned their claims on that.

I know there was talk of a federal sin tax of one cent per ounce on sugar soda's.

Oh well, time to drink more water, which is better for me, so they'll get their way. But then when the soda tax stops bringing in enough money because people change their habits they'll have to go after another demographic for their income.

Maybe a reading tax? Or a breathing tax? How about a pooping tax?

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

ghostdancer wrote:

Luckily, they're not taxing soda here yet but it's in the pipeline to do so along with taxing bottled water.

Like the rest of you, we pay a sales tax, currently 6%, on everything except food from the grocery store. We pay a 19% road tax on every gallon of gas we buy. We have service taxes on our heat & electric bill, phone bill, water & sewer bill, and internet provider....doesn't matter which company provides said service, we gotta pay whatever service tax they decide to charge us....most are currently being taxed at anywhere from 6 to 10 percent, though our water & sewer just went to 20% of the total monthly bill.

For the pleasure of living in the city, the city taxes our earnings at 1 and a half percent every week. If you live outside of the city but work in the city, lucky you, you get to pay .75% each week.

We pay a tax for trash collection on our property taxes, but 2 years ago they decided $180.00 per year wasn't enough to pick up trash so they implemented a second seperate trash collection fee of an additional $50 per year. If I want to participate in recycling, I have to "rent" special containers from the city at $30 per crate per week.......of course they make you take 4 seperate containers and you pay the $30 per crate each week whether you set them out for pick up or not. (I don't recycle; it costs too dang much to do so!)

Our driver's license renewal fees are $28; last year they were $13. To renew our license plates each year they base the cost of the plate on the price of the vehicle when it was new....doesn't matter if you bought a used car; the cost for the plate is going to be based on how much that car cost when it was brand new! After 8 years we do get a slight reduction of $50.00.

And because they like us so well, they charge us an "administrative cost" on our property taxes which amounts to an additional 10% of the total tax bill, which we're charged twice a year.....once in July for the summer property tax bill and again in December for the winter taxes. I pay this administrative cost for them to print my bill and take my payment. That's what they told me when I questioned it.

Oh, and for the priviledge of having a police department, beginning this month it now costs me an additional $100 a year. This is a special tax known as Public Safety Tax, and it's on top of the $250 taxes I was already paying for police in my property taxes. And because the county sheriff department feels left out, they want a special Public Safety Tax too.....they're talking an additional $75.00 per year.

And MI decided they weren't already getting enough money to run our State parks every year. They would now like for each registered driver to pay an additional $10 on our license plate renewals, and they ask for it at the time of renewal. This additional fee will give me free entrance into any State Park in MI. Um, thanks, but no thanks! If I want to visit one of the State Parks, I'll buy a daily pass for $4.00. Don't make me pay more money for something I seldom use.

So my advice to any of you is don't move to MI! They'll tax you to death and then ask for more.

See! This is EXACTLY what I was talking about from day one! And I'll bet you missed some fee's and taxes in there!

How does any SANE and RATIONAL person not look at this and say "WTF!?!?"

At some point we need some transparency (a favorite new buzz-word of our politicians) and the tax code needs to be torn down and rebuilt. This is insanity.