4 ms·

I'll take high local taxes over high state taxes any day. It's an order of magnitude easier to influence decisions in my town vs. my state. The other thing is

by tharne 5y ago

I'll take high local taxes over high state taxes any day. It's an order of magnitude easier to influence decisions in my town vs. my state. The other thing is that it's also much easier to leave my town if I don't like the decisions made. Sure, I can move states too, but that's a much bigger hassle than moving 10 minutes down the road.

KerrAvon 5y ago
Do you have a practical example of that influence actually mattering to you personally? The thing about the property taxes is that if you move to someplace like Austin where the property values are skyrocketing, your property taxes can jump a ridiculous amount in a single year. You're completely insulated from that in CA (once you _own_ property, which is obviously the hard part in the SF Bay Area etc).
- tharne 5y ago
  I live in a pretty small town, so a handful of people complaining loudly does tend to get noticed. I realize that this is not true of larger jurisdictions like Austin. Edit: Was asked for an example, here it is. In the aftermath of the protests in 2020, there was some talk of removing the police officers that are assigned full time to the schools. Parents pushed back and we still have those officers in place.
mywittyname 5y ago
I donno. Local governments get hooked on those revenues but are extremely susceptible to revenue shocks, as they have a much smaller tax base. So things like a single business closing can cause budget shortfalls. And I've seen a common go-to for increasing revenue is by policing for profit. I've also lived in towns with corrupt local governments, and you can't do shit about it. Good luck getting people to come out to vote. And when the good ol' boys club takes the mayor and sheriff offices, and fills the roles with their friends/family, it can be hard to oust them. Prove that the tickets you're getting are due to running against they mayor on a platform of change, and not because you were speeding for the 7th time this week. It got so bad in the town I grew up in that people were pushing to dissolve the police and local government. Even my hardcore right-wing, retired police officer uncle was in favor of dissolving the police department.
yongjik 5y ago
I can't agree, considering that California's major problems stem from "my city over everyone else" politics. Cannot build a functioning public transit system if every microcity along the way has different opinions. People need affordable housing? Can't build them here, it should be some other city's problem. California would have been in a much better shape if the state government could tell these cities to shut up.

by tharne 5y ago

KerrAvon 5y ago

Do you have a practical example of that influence actually mattering to you personally? The thing about the property taxes is that if you move to someplace like Austin where the property values are skyrocketing, your property taxes can jump a ridiculous amount in a single year. You're completely insulated from that in CA (once you _own_ property, which is obviously the hard part in the SF Bay Area etc).

tharne 5y ago
I live in a pretty small town, so a handful of people complaining loudly does tend to get noticed. I realize that this is not true of larger jurisdictions like Austin. Edit: Was asked for an example, here it is. In the aftermath of the protests in 2020, there was some talk of removing the police officers that are assigned full time to the schools. Parents pushed back and we still have those officers in place.

mywittyname 5y ago

I donno. Local governments get hooked on those revenues but are extremely susceptible to revenue shocks, as they have a much smaller tax base. So things like a single business closing can cause budget shortfalls. And I've seen a common go-to for increasing revenue is by policing for profit. I've also lived in towns with corrupt local governments, and you can't do shit about it. Good luck getting people to come out to vote. And when the good ol' boys club takes the mayor and sheriff offices, and fills the roles with their friends/family, it can be hard to oust them. Prove that the tickets you're getting are due to running against they mayor on a platform of change, and not because you were speeding for the 7th time this week. It got so bad in the town I grew up in that people were pushing to dissolve the police and local government. Even my hardcore right-wing, retired police officer uncle was in favor of dissolving the police department.

yongjik 5y ago

I can't agree, considering that California's major problems stem from "my city over everyone else" politics. Cannot build a functioning public transit system if every microcity along the way has different opinions. People need affordable housing? Can't build them here, it should be some other city's problem. California would have been in a much better shape if the state government could tell these cities to shut up.