TaxesTaxesThis section is just to let of some frustration.
Every time I hear of the Marriage Penalty, I get angry. There is NO marriage penalty. We are talking about a family with both adults working and paying the rate for the income they earn. That is it. They are getting a discount for being a family unit and these married people think they should get an even bigger discount.
To show how fallacious this Marriage penalty is, look at the taxes a family of 3 pays:
If the three people are husband, wife, and, child; they pay at the married rate with a dependant. This is the lowest possible rate.
Organize the family differently: a man and two children. He will earn less money and pay higher taxes by about 30%. He has seriously higher expenses. He will do this at the expense of spending valuable time with his children – because he loves his children.
The reduction of the marriage penalty will proportionately increase his taxes. This is wrong.
Unbelievable. Not only are the California taxes higher than anything you have ever heard of but also they tax anything they can get away with. I understand it is getting worse.
There was the head tax to move into the state. The US Constitution bans head taxes but California found a way around it. Back in the 70's California came up with a set of hoses, cans, and valves to recycle exhaust back through the engine. This system was detrimental to the car and gas mileage but in those days, it made some sense. Not much sense but some. 30 years later they still use the same mechanism. The standard manufactured car for the other 49 states has state-of-the-art emission controls. California still has its old hoses, cans, and valves. California’s response? California makes the new residents pay for their antiquated hose system. If you do not have California hoses, they sock you with a $300 per car registration tax. You still have to meet the same California emissions standards (average requirements for Western states) every year. I called Toyota. They assured me that I had the better car. The non-California car gets better mileage and lasts longer than the California-hosed car.
My Camry, purchased in Florida, has virtually 0 emissions. It tests at 0 parts-per-million (ppm) in one measure and 1% of the permitted values in the other. The doorsill has a Toyota emissions plate that states that it meets the requirements of ALL US states. The California DOT inspector says that California is not ANY state. In 1993, the California license office refused to register my car unless I paid the $300 fee. 2 years ago this head tax was declared unconstitutional. 8 years after I paid the $300, I got my money refunded -- including a little interest to clear their conscience. They need to find a new, more constitutional, tax.
Maybe the antiquated California hose system will be abolished. This would eliminate the need for a separate assembly line producing cars for California-only use. This could improve emissions and reduce prices. I do not think that California would notice the revenue loss in the taxes from the lower car prices.
Then there is the gas tax. Gas costs 20 cents a gallon higher in the San Francisco bay area than anywhere (including Los Angeles?!). The claim is that California had special gas refined in a special refinery. Not true. The special refinery puts the same additives in its gas that other states have outlawed as a carcinogen. The remainder of the country has the same gasoline requirements as California: mandated by Congress. Check the state gas taxes if you want to see the higher base price. That accounts for part of the higher price. Then go after the oil companies who charge San Francisco motorists more because 'they can afford it'.
I bought a motor home. The San Jose (really Dan Gamel in Morgan Hill) dealer could not come close to a good price. I went on the Internet and emailed dealers around the country. Earnhardt in Arizona gave me a super deal. Close enough to California. I then planned to buy the RV in Arizona, drive the RV to San Jose, and register it in California. Bad mistake. The registration costs in California are twice what I paid in Arizona. And they only give you partial credit on sales tax. I would have paid an additional $3,500 in taxes to California! It is a good thing that I maintained a home in Arizona. So, instead, I registered the RV in Arizona and rented a space in Tucson at $47/month. The space would have cost $150/month in California.
I understand that the San Jose dealer now has a deal where they will deliver the RV out of state so that you can pay that state's taxes. I have met several people who claim this was done for them. I must not have talked to the right salesman. Earnhardt's gain, Morgan Hill's loss. It is really bad when merchants have to find ways around their state taxes. I am honest: I registered where I owned a home. I only rent a home in California because I cannot afford to buy there.
I made periodic trips to Tucson and traveled Arizona for a year before I went full-time. This got the bugs out and you can store anything in the desert except ice. The airfare was $150 per trip so I came out about even on storage.
Taxes. I saved an initial $3,500 and afterward an annual $1,200 and I am now a TX resident instead of a California resident. I could save even more by being an Oregon or Washington resident. It costs less than $50 per year to register in Oregon or Washington.
I used to wonder why California was after so many people with their cars registered out of state. Years back, I got stopped at a road block in Los Angeles. At least in the rest of the state the cops are civil. Not Los Angeles. They were checking registrations against driver's licenses. The cop walked up to my window, snarled, and said, "Your driver's license had better damn well be Arizona". Of course it was -- but now I understand why they got away with smashing my sister's head against a wall until her helmet broke. The gorilla in the Milwaukee zoo is friendlier than the Los Angeles goon squad.
My mind wonders. You know: like Joseph Conrad's 'Lord Jim'. I hated that book. In any case, you have heard about the property taxes and the income taxes. Highest that you could ever dream of. The local newspaper, The San Jose Mercury, lead editorial complains that California taxes are not worse than anywhere else. After that batch of lies, they think I should subscribe and believe anything else they say? Shoot, they are doing so poorly that in order to get their advertisement rates they mail advertising folios to their non-customers! Sure, the tax rates may be the same as in Arizona but when you pay $500k for a $150k house, you are paying more than 3 times the taxes.
Now this is where the California citizens deserve what they get. In San Jose it is 8.25%. That is $1 of tax for each $12 spent. And the voters voted it in. It was 7.75% when I moved here. They had a referendum to subsidize the mass-transit system and to widen some interchanges and roadways and to add .5% to the sales tax. The people who are smart enough to vote against the tobacco companies are still dumb enough to vote themselves new taxes. So what do they get for their additional $1 on every $200? In 20 years the Light-Rail (street car) will be extended from one shopping mall, East Ridge, to the lunch-capital of the valley, Mountain View. They have doubled the fare but this is invisible to most people. Some do not know that when you switch trains you need a new fare ticket -- now you must switch trains in the middle of the route. But then the Light-Rail is a Lite solution to the transportation problem anyway. Unless you are in a particular area, the expense of the Light-Rail does not offset the lost time in using it. Streetcars compete with cars, bikes, and pedestrians on right-of-ways. Cisco is paying for a big chunk of the Light-Rail system or the tax would be higher.
Then there are the highway improvements bought by the tax. Improvements? If you live in Morgan Hill or Gilroy, it is an improvement. Otherwise you have just paid to get more people on US 101 in places that are already gridlocked. Think about it. From I-680 to Mountain View is already stopped at rush hour. They are now putting traffic control lights on the entrances for the entire route. Why? When you open the floodgates from the South, nobody will move. And worse. They are expanding the stretch of I-880 from Milpitas to US 101. This is one of the worst bottlenecks in the San Francisco Bay area. Do you think it will get better when the funnel opens? Not for those already on US 101.
But the real reason for this diatribe: the dreaded CRV (Cash Refund Value) -- The pop-can tax. This is a 2.5 cents per can tax on soda cans or cans containing anything that you can drink. The CRV is NOT a deposit. You do not get it back. If you are a resident, you can take the can to a state-subsidized recycle center and get a few cents back more than you can get at a non-subsidized center. Make no mistake: you do not get your 2.5 cents back. Of the $.60 you pay for a case, residents will get about $.75 back from the center. I get $.75 back in Arizona and do not have to pay the $1.20 tax.
The companies fought back: plastic bottles that very few places can recycle. California decided it was losing too much tax income. They extended their CRV to plastic bottles: 3 to 5 cents per plastic bottle. They even tax water bottles now. Think of it. In the name of 'recycling', they tax the water you drink. I guarantee you do not get this tax back. I took 300 bottles (I drink a lot of water). That is $10 of tax. I got $3.84 back. I would get more than that in Arizona.
The CRV is NOT to be confused with honest states like Oregon or Washington, which have a pop-can deposit. There you get your money back. Not in California. A tax is a tax. I just wish California were honest enough to admit it. I hate hypocrisy. Especially I hate government hypocrisy. If you are a government and you need the money, you tax. Be honest enough to call it a tax.
It gets worse: in order to get the puny CRV refund, you must be a California resident! Non-residents get an even smaller amount.
For this puny refund amount, after having paid the tax; I feel that I have the right to dispose of the can in any manner I desire. I can throw the bottle/can out the window and not feel bad about it. Luckily for California I am a member of the Sierra Club and send money to Greenpeace and save the cans for the recycle bin.
Oregon will not let you pump your own gas at the pump (join CFN for self-serve gas). Because of this law, Oregon’s prices do not show up on the national highest price surveys. This is wrong. If Oregon wants to jack up its prices and hide them, the closet door should be removed.
Arizona Sales taxes vary by city and county. The sales tax can vary from 7% to 12%. Order a hot dog in Yuma (10.8%). Order a buffet at the Flying J south of I-8 on I-10 (12.3%).
Vehicle Registration fees on RVs in Arizona and California approach $2000 per year. Compare this to most states who charge $35-$200.
Do not even start me on intangible taxes: taxes on money which does not exist is preposterous.
In the Bush depression, states are fighting, as are corporations, just to survive. New taxes are being added. Old taxes expanded. Tax cops are increasing enforcement. Times are tough. Then again, if Bush gets his tax cut and the economy improves, I shall anyway take my hat off to the man. We can thank Al Gore for keeping Congress from taxing Internet sales. Does Bush have the guts to keep the Internet free? An independent survey has shown that the states are crying in their beer about lost sales tax revenues. This survey indicated the loss at about 10% of the states’ surveys figures.
I wrote all of this tripe just because I got dinged for a couple cases of soda-pop cans again. Sorry.
I heard this month that several states are looking into requiring GPS devices in cars to measure miles driven and then taxing on this. The argument is that gas taxes are not paying for highway construction and that taxing the people rich enough to pay for their gas guzzlers only hurts the rich people and taxes must be more democratic than that. I understand that one loaded truck causes more wear on the road than 10,000 cars. Maybe I am off by a magnitude. But the concept of pay as you go used to mean something. Now it is more of the Republican, tax the poor because they do not add to the supply side. You want to pay for the roads: charge the people who wear them out (large trucks). You want to reduce gas usage: tax the people who are consuming excessive gas (SUVs, pick-up trucks). You want to sound like you are insane? Tax the people who must use the roads and are doing so in the most economical manner using the least damaging and most efficient (and expensive!) vehicles.