tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post4750833497902316262..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Selling Memberships to the Municipality of AnchorageStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-42159853393943943392009-11-09T20:54:19.910-09:002009-11-09T20:54:19.910-09:00CGinWi, The issue at present in Anchorage isn'...CGinWi, The issue at present in Anchorage isn't so much about rich and poor, but about people who don't want to pay property taxes because they think a lot of the services are 'frivolous' and people who think we should pay to maintain Anchorage as a town with a good quality of life.<br /><br />Anchorage residents have a very low state and local tax burden. There is no sales tax and no income tax. Some <a rel="nofollow">ten year old Municipal charts</a> show Anchorage the lowest of 50 cities in total local and state taxes, though I'm not sure if they picked the cities or it was the top 50 US cities. <br /><br />In addition, each Anchorage household gets a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) check for EACH household member. This year's checks were $1305 per person. A family of four in an average priced home ($314,000) gets their whole property tax bill paid for by the PFD's and end up with $753 left over (See <a href="http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/778077.html" rel="nofollow">ADN</a> for tax info).<br /><br />So, essentially, these people get more money back from the state and local governments than they pay. And they want to pay even less. <br /><br />So in our case, "city membership" would help get people to see what their taxes pay for. Make them realize how low their taxes really are for what they get. It gets everyone into a minimum level and then allows people to pay extra for more. <br /><br />But, as I said above, most benefits are public goods, where you can't exclude non-payers. And your point about the poor is relevant, and some additional provisions ought to be made for poor kids. <br /><br />But without some sort of action like this, the new Mayor is likely to try to cut out a lot of the public services and no one will have access to them, rich or poor. <br /><br />Actually, I think his budget cuts are a ploy to cut property taxes and replace the lost revenue with a sales tax, which would significantly benefit the largest property owners (large corporations) and be even or extra taxes for the average citizen.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-8168722732731544162009-11-09T09:41:42.272-09:002009-11-09T09:41:42.272-09:00Well, in Hungary they reacted quicker on the crisi...Well, in Hungary they reacted quicker on the crisis.<br /><br />The commenter above advised privatisation but I would be careful with that. There were problems with over privatisation in Hungary.Ropihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17214991557644729165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-62078261797608838112009-11-09T05:17:37.287-09:002009-11-09T05:17:37.287-09:00So, why not just privatize all those services? I&...So, why not just privatize all those services? I'm not in favor of that at all, but really if the good services are only going to go to those able to pay for them, why have the government involved at all? <br /><br />The rich kids can check out library books and the poor kids can't. Reagan would have loved it. After all, what have those poor kids ever done to deserve it?CGinWInoreply@blogger.com