Are Your Taxes Paying for the Cost of Your Street?

Post by tamana » Fri, May 06, 2016, 3:59 PM UTC

burfog wrote: post #142

clarkmoody wrote: post #8

First and foremost, we need to abolish the laws that caused this all to happen. Yes, that’s right – all of this was required to happen, by law. Many people think that sprawl is a free market phenomenon, and they are exactly wrong. Sprawl is caused by the following policies – I call these Sprawl Laws; you can find them for yourself in your local city code (for the most succinct explanation, see this paper[1]): * Zonin…

Sometimes these things get too extreme, but they do have valid reasons. Zoning should be obvious. Do you mind if I build a solid rocket factory next to your house, complete with test stand and storage of enough ammonium perchlorate to register on the Richter scale if it goes boom? (see the PEPCON disaster, which was 3 to 3.5 on the Richter scale) Setbacks, minimum lot sizes, and maximum units per lot are needed for d…

Post by tamana » Fri, May 06, 2016, 4:05 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #31

The author never made the case that a property owner is SUPPOSED to pay for the cost of the street, so I'm not even motivated to figure out whether the analysis is correct or not. The government is not a bank. You're not supposed to "get out what you put in" or "pay for what you use." The government provides things for the public good: roads, education, police, military, etc. Of course some government is a Ponzi sche…

Post by clarkmoody » Fri, May 06, 2016, 5:25 PM UTC

burfog wrote: post #142

clarkmoody wrote: post #8

First and foremost, we need to abolish the laws that caused this all to happen. Yes, that’s right – all of this was required to happen, by law. Many people think that sprawl is a free market phenomenon, and they are exactly wrong. Sprawl is caused by the following policies – I call these Sprawl Laws; you can find them for yourself in your local city code (for the most succinct explanation, see this paper[1]): * Zonin…

Sometimes these things get too extreme, but they do have valid reasons. Zoning should be obvious. Do you mind if I build a solid rocket factory next to your house, complete with test stand and storage of enough ammonium perchlorate to register on the Richter scale if it goes boom? (see the PEPCON disaster, which was 3 to 3.5 on the Richter scale) Setbacks, minimum lot sizes, and maximum units per lot are needed for d…

Post by stevep001 » Fri, May 06, 2016, 6:11 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #111

stevep001 wrote: post #81

City policies on this vary so much that it's impossible to generalize. That said, newer cities often end up forgetting that they need to pay for street reconstruction. The original cost of the street is usually included in the initial price of the house. Sophisticated cities maintain a model (commonly called a pavement management program) that lets them predict future maintenance cost across the city. He misses the f…

>other Midwestern US cities are able to get 60-70 years from their streets. By neglecting them when they are horribly cracked and potholed after 25 years. Then they make up for their long term "investment" in concrete by skim coating with asphalt.

Post by gozur88 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:25 AM UTC

x0x0 wrote: post #35

akchin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be unpopular, but California is a great example of a place where taxes are high, but it is not spent well. I remember looking at this a few years back, and although the state claims that 2/3 of state tax dollars goes towards education, a lot of it is supporting pensions and benefits of previous generation employees and teachers. While this is admirable, it essentially takes money away from today's generati…

While I'm with you on prop 13, we combine high income taxes with exceptionally low property taxes for long term property holders. Again, if we want nice things, we have to pay for them. As for pensions, you say unsustainable promises, I say stealing from people who took cash later instead of cash immediately. Consider your last boss deciding to reach into your checking account and take $40k out because the business r…