who to vote for and why ??? and vote YES for the tax amendment

I am independent and was not able to vote for any of the nuckleheads. Not that the choice is great. If I had the choice I would have voted for Ron Paul. He is the only candidate that actually says it like it is. I disagree with certain policies but rather have someone that speaks his mind than a flip-flopper like Guilliani or Romney or McKain who still thinks this war was justified and keeps on defending going into Iraq. If he is that blind he actually has a chance of being the worst president ever, worst than the idiot residing at 1400 right now.

Voted YES on the property tax. Taking it with a grain of salt though. I am sure that will be used to say how great he (Charlie C.) is when in reality the property tax assessments are falling as fast as you can say foreclosure and people like you and me, Robert, have absolutely no protection for income properties. Looks good on paper but the reality is a different animal.
Don't forget that the Cities have banked on the increased revenue. They spend their money already for years ahead. Flashback to the late 80s when the City of Miami went bankrupt for thinking they get revenue from the office buildings they were building in the early 80s that all folded in the S&L crisis. But then, as I always say, nobody ever learns from history and thinks this time it will be different.

 

I'm definitely voting Yes on #1, and Ron Paul in the Republican primary. I know he doesn't have much chance, but I did the same thing voting Perot twice. I would be happy with Romney or Huckabee on the ballot also. I might switch to a dem president if it is McCain or Thompson vs. Obama...
That is I'll vote Yes, etc... if I get a new license. I found out this morning when I went to vote that mine is lost!
BT

 

I think Ron Paul. More of a statement than a possibility. Rudy belongs under the bus, and Mitt, I mean with a name like Mitt, and he is too much like Reagan, the second worst president of modern times. McCain has the potential of being one of those guys that goes crazy and kills either postal workers, or McDonalds employees.

Gee, I hope I was clear with my response.

I don't know who to believe on the Property Tax Amendment. Martin is right, Charlie will use to try to get elected his second term. My question, what necessary services are being cut to pay for this amendment? Children, the elderly??

 

#1 will never pass and rightfully so....it was put together in a rush by those who wanted to get home from a special session.
Either fix the problem correctly or don't....this plan is crap / a BS BandAid plan that will create a mess.

 

Vote "YES" on #1. Anything is better than nothing!! The municipalities/government's out of control spending has to stop! Period. Although this is definitely far short of an ideal solution, it's a start! If we do nothing, then nothing will ever get done since the tug of war betweeen municipalities and taxpayers has begun. If there's this much resistance on a 'small' change, how the f'k do you think a large one will come to pass??? Swinging for the fences in nice, but you risk striking out. Hitting singles can also get you there.

I get fed up with the municipalities crying about the budget constraints and cuts they will have to make. Well, welcome to the real world. This country was founded on the beliefs of eliminating taxation without representation, and that seems to have gone out the window. Businesses need to figure out a way to run efficiently. It's far overdue that Governments do the same.

 

So, anyone informed, what necessary sevices will be cut?

In other words, who gets screwed because this Amendment 1 isn't going to be for free. Police? Fire? School programs? Elderly services? Something that does not have a big voter block on its own will get cut. Not to say it isn't a good idea, but maybe it is not the correctly prepared amendment?

 

Paul is correct.
Vote NO on prperty tax.
It will save you a whopping $200/yr and cut funds to schools, etc. It was thrown together and doesn't address the real issues in property tax reform.

 

i voted yes on the housing tax reform. at least it will get them thinking.

 

The necessary services that have been added since 2003 would be a fair estimate.
How about the assistant to the director of public beautification? How about the assistant to the finacne director for a town of 4,000 people that earns $50k plus benefits? How about stop building huge new facilities that are $400 per foot + about $25 per foot per year in maintnenance etc....
The changes will still give the counties and cities a larger budget than we had in 2003, but they prefer to keep their budgets at 50% inflated from then... Let the beaurocrats cut some needed services and see where that gets them. With an average home paying $5k per year and the fire / police / trash / engineering using about 20% of that they will have a hard time justifying the other wasteful expenditures as being necessary. How about a voucher for the schools so they have to compete with the private schools? Our state allots about $9500 per student per year which is more than my grade school kids pay ($3600 per student per year) or my high school aged daughter ($9000 per year) at some decent private schools, yet the educations are severly lacking in the public schools.
Waste is the government's middle name. The larger they get, the less efficient. They should get their training at Walmart and be mindful of the spending. We all have to.
BT

 

BT, is this what actually will be done, or what you wish would be done??

 

I votes Yes as well but the problem is they won't be thinking. They will be laying back and think they have done so much already. I can hear them: "We have increased the Homestead exception to Florida home owners by 100%"

...BTW school increases are not part of that exemption.
They however will get cuts anyhow since our general budget by 2008 will be about 30% less than the previous year.Cities like Cape Coral will be extremely hit. Their property values have dropped 50% already and most of the lot owners have no homestead exemption since you cannot do that one a lot. So their revenue had increased over the previous years by 3-4 fold and now they are faced with getting only half of what they became accustomed to spending.

good luck.....

 

The flipside is: if you vote NO they will also lay back and say: heck Floridian's don't care about tax cuts.

Oh wait: its politics....we, the voters cannot win!

Lets just leave the Bu**** in office and save the money on advertising. Make the Superbowl party bigger.

 

Damn people with kids. I have none, why should I pay for edumacation?
Let those homeowners that have one house and 3 kids sort out how they pay for their brads. Hey not my fault you did not know how to put on the condomn.

I just cut 60% off my property tax bill.

 

It is a wish. The actuality is that the municipalities will simply raise their millage rates to keep their budgets going up, up, up....
BT

 

My opinion is you shouldn't! The public education here is a joke and a total waste of money. If they at least tied the funding of a school to some performance standard that would be a start. How did the schools get funded in the old days (think Little House on the Prarie)???
BT

 

I had lunch with Ron Paul at Moroso last Friday.
The address in Washington is #1600. The #1400 address is in Frankfurt.

 

Perhaps an educated population begets higher property values?

And McCain went to my high school, so I'm rooting for him because it would be cool. I'd like to remind you all though, there are more than two political parties in this country.

 

But only two that control everything!
My views align well with the Libertarian party, but they never have viable candidates...
BT

 

Government spending MUST be constrained in order to achieve ANY tax cuts. Government should be run like a For Profit business, in that there should be accountability, and motivation to provide the best product for the lowest price. The problem lies in the root of Government, which is a BROKEN system, made up of frivilous spending, misappropriated dollars, paybacks, favors, unmotivated employees, special interests, etc...

Property values, and the resulting property taxes have increased by 100-500% over the past 5 years. However, I don't see a 100-500% increase in public services. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that either that increase in tax revenue money is being spent frivilously, or they have thought up new ways that they desire to spend frivilously. Either way, the 'cry wolf' Bullsh*t tactics the government is spinning is complete and utter nonsense.

If the Government doesn't get on track to trim budgets, trim spending, spend wisely and not keep spending as much, and more, than what they take in, then how in the He*l do they expect the American people to do so?

I wish I had a business that could do whatever the f'k I wanted, and if I had a shortfall in revenues, I could just wave a wand and extract more money from the public. F'k that nonsense. Stop spending MY hard-earned dollars on stupid sh*t!!!

Tax Freedom Day keeps getting later and later in the year:
YEAR TFD % of income paid in taxes.
1900 22-Jan 5.90%
1910 19-Jan 5.02%
1920 13-Feb 11.96%
1930 12-Feb 11.61%
1940 7-Mar 17.98%
1950 01-Apr 24.87%
1960 12-Apr 27.88%
1970 20-Apr 29.90%
1980 22-Apr 30.68%
1990 23-Apr 30.80%
2000 5-May 33.98%
2001 1-May 33.01%
2002 21-Apr 30.27%
2003 18-Apr 29.51%
2004 19-Apr 29.69%
2005 26-Apr 31.53%
2006 28-Apr 32.29%
2007 30-Apr 32.69%

Almost 1/3, yes ONE THIRD of what the average American now earns goes to paying taxes. How the F"K is that possible when this country was founded on the notion of escaping taxes?

YES, this Amendment isn't the holy grail by any stretch, but, it DOES send a message to do SOMETHING, rather than a message to do NOTHING!!!!!!! Again, if it's this difficult to get a small cut, how do you expect to get something significant unless we start somewhere??????

 

..and there is a reason why we are in this Bu**** in the first place. Lets not look at the issues, lets see what religion he has, how long he is married, how many kids he has, oh my he is so handsome, he went to my high school ...

gheez Rick....

 

Agree 100% with you Martin.
And what about Huckabee with Chuck Norris behind him with his usual stare on his face and nodding at everything Huck has to say?
How goofy is that?! Are we supposed to vote for Huck or for Chuck Norris?

 

It passed: Just shows what a bunch of lemmings we are.

I am going to save $240 a year that will cover my water bill for 1 month and then the Federal Gov is going to give me $600 to stave off a recession that is already here.

I love that earlier post that said "it's a start...it will make them think" actually its the end as they will say you got what you wanted now leave us alone and who in the world really believes they think.

Just goes to show that owning a Ferrrari does not increase your IQ!

 

Lead story in today's Paper:

State senate to consider tax increase for schools to offset possible loss due to #1

Just goes to show what fools we are!......remember the WMD's??????