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I've been thinking about local taxes a lot recently (I've been a locally elected selectman for a tiny town in MA) and realized that the automobile ruined the wa
by ab_goat 3y ago
I've been thinking about local taxes a lot recently (I've been a locally elected selectman for a tiny town in MA) and realized that the automobile ruined the way we value land, which ultimate ruined the way that municipalities are able to control costs and spend their taxes to add value.
I'd write more, but only if someone responds to this.
- chrisweekly 3y agoI'm a homeowner in MA interested to hear more.
- ab_goat 3y agoI come from Western Massachusetts, which is characterized by smaller populations and lower budgetary allocations. The most significant budget item in most municipalities here is education, followed by road maintenance, which is often extremely costly. In Massachusetts, the basic cost estimate for repaving a standard road is approximately $1 million per mile, and this investment typically only lasts about a decade before it requires another round of expensive repairs. Bridges are even more financially burdensome. Recently, we replaced a culvert that was so small I could easily jump over it, and yet it set us back $700,000. Keep in mind; we're talking about a town with a population of around 1,000 people, and we have over 30 of these culverts and bridges scattered across our approximately 80 miles of road within a 55-square-mile area. If you're familiar with the region, you might even be able to pinpoint which town I'm referring to. To add to the challenge, not only do we have to repave our roads every 7-10 years to prevent them from falling into disrepair, but we also have to maintain them for safety, plow them, and salt them for safe travel. Over the past three decades, the expectations for maintaining these infrastructures have significantly increased. The problem lies in the way taxes are structured, which is based on the combined value of land and improvements (buildings). Particularly in smaller towns and cities, most people are trying to get the most affordable option. This approach encourages sprawl, resulting in substantial infrastructure construction and maintenance costs. In larger cities (unlike mine), the upkeep of water and sewer lines are another considerable addition. In more suburban communities, we're witnessing the aging of infrastructure that was originally constructed during the early days of the automobile era. The cost of replacing this aging infrastructure is substantial, but growth expectations, which used to help fund these projects, are dwindling. Many people who moved a few miles outside the city center still expect the same level of services without understanding the financial implications. This situation places a significant strain on tax funds, leaving us with limited resources to invest in valuable critical community needs and values. We now live in a small city in multi-unit building that has ~60 ft of road frontage, and is right in downtown. The building has 6 apartments so has considerable value. But our _infrastructure_ costs are tiny compared to those that live in suburbia. Why are we paying more taxes for helping the city be efficient? MA GL says you have to tax everyone on their property value - so someone in a 250K house out in suburbia that costs the town huge amounts to maintain their roads, sewers and water, actually costs the town money -- while a downtown 6-unit $1.5M building next to others that use the same services, is a boon. And what made that possible? The proliferation of the automobile. We need our tax system to promote density - which means you can spend more tax money on things that matter. (this has been edited in places by ChatGPT)
- simonsarris 3y ago> Bridges are even more financially burdensome. Recently, we replaced a culvert that was so small I could easily jump over it, and yet it set us back $700,000. Why? Why didn't you all agree to go down to Home Depot and load up on one big short metal pipe and some cement if that's the case? How was 700K spent?
- ab_goat 3y agoState-mandated design and build engineering requirements
- nukeman 3y agoLikely due to: - Environmental regulations requiring NEPA analysis or categorical exclusion - State laws on who can perform road construction - Construction codes for roadways and bridges - Miscellaneous overhead for other areas (e.g., Human Resources, accounting, etc)
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThen it seems to be more of a problem with excessive regulation then suburbs themselves. As a thought experiment, even the wealthiest city in the world couldn't afford a single bridge if regulations required bridges to be made out of stainless steel.
- maxerickson 3y agoI'm pretty sure that underfunded pensions are a bigger problem than anything else. Especially for services (where the value is concentrated at the time of delivery).
- ab_goat 3y agoUnderfunded pensions are a problem only because tax revenue must be spent on maintaining unsustainable infrastructure that was originally built on an expectation of never-ending growth. If that infrastructure costs were not so high, there would be sufficient money to pay people what they deserved.
- maxerickson 3y agopay people what they deserved. Yeah, that's not the point. The point is that taxpayers receiving services should pay for what it costs to pay people what they deserve, not saddle the future with those costs.
- ab_goat 3y agoI don't necessarily disagree. But the issue has been that municipal taxes are a zero-sum game. People expect taxes to stay at a constant level unless they are getting additional services. So allocating more taxes in one place pulls taxes from another. By not funding retirement immediately, you can keep taxes constant and not diminish current services. But most importantly, the single-most-explanative reason why we services have gotten more expensive is because of this ignored tsunami of additional costs caused by the proliferation of the automobile.
- maxerickson 3y agoYes, it's very convenient to have someone else pay for stuff.
- zone411 3y agoInfrastructure spending is dwarfed by expenditures on education, healthcare, or public safety.
- nukeman 3y agoI’d be interested to hear your thoughts, this jibes with mine on the subject to an extent.