181–190 of 196 posts
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From the West Coast? Vermont has the best East coast skiing. I’d put it in the bottom quartile of West coast skiing. It isn’t bad at all, but it will never compete with the Rockies.
From the French Alps. But it's really a climate issue, the nights are just too cold, everything freezes.
All of the good skiing in the rockies is in areas where it can easily go weeks without it getting above freezing.
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> The more cynical view is that this was done on purpose to harm blue states that tend to have higher state income taxes this could very well be true, but it does seem unfair in the first place to be able to deduct state income tax. it's great that some states have decided to increase their income taxes to offer more services to their citizens, but why should tax payers in other states have to subsidize them without…
The cynic would argue that those same states also tend to pay into the federal government disproportionately. "Why should we be subsidising states like Alabama (who can't even be bothered to educate their populations) without receiving any benefit?"
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I can guarantee you that states that did would be hammered by anti-tax people thinking that they were overtaxed.
Shocking then that 12 do then, and they're mostly low-tax states https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_wealth_fund
From the law: > (3) The Agency shall award grants under the Program on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to available funding, as follows: (A) not more than $125,000.00 in calendar year 2019... With such a small budget, it seems like the actual intent may have been to allocate up to $125K to generate advertising about their state. https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/B...
As we are talking about living and working in Vermont on a technology focused news aggregation site, I would call that a success. Part of the reasoning given in the article is to shore up the "rapidly sinking tax base" of the state and it reminds me that we don't have a good example of governments that both grow and shrink based on the economic activity of the state. That is something that could really help areas rem…
That has changed in the past 100 years, especially in the New World. You no longer have to worry about your towns being burned down by an invading army (not in the developed world at least). The systems and thinking that we have in place for governing have just never dealt with this problem before.
I do hope that it changes in the near future as we see the inevitable decline in many, many rural communities in the US and the hyper-growth of urban conglomerates. It would be nice if Governments could plan for a gradual decline in the population and ensure that basic city services would survive the decline by investing judiciously, rather than try to reverse the trend with expensive gimmicks to attract people that lose money, make the communities financially insolvent and basically increase their misery.
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With skiing in the east an industry in rough shape since it doesn't snow anymore, and agriculture in a slow death spiral, Vermont is trying to embrace it's potential as a bedroom community for NYC and Boston. Burlington is a cool little city and the countryside is beautiful as well. If they can use a small program like this to stimulate some cadre of "pioneers", they'll get alot of value, and perhaps some improved ou…
> With skiing in the east an industry in rough shape since it doesn't snow anymore I'm not sure where you are coming up with that. In fact many places in the NE have have multiple top 10 all time snowfalls in the last 10 years. Climate change is expected to increase the precipitation in New England, particularly in the winter and the temperature increase can result in more snow due to the increased ability of the air…
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> notoriously high-tax state Some societies think that it is wise to spend on some things such as education (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/02/the-... ). Others think that lowering taxes at whatever cost is better. The former fits with my thinking, which is why I like it here. It's a little more nuanced than that, and not necessarily an either/or as you have described it. More than likely in…
"More than likely in my experience, the people who think lowering taxes is good think so because they view the government as an inefficient, third-party spender and believe the money could be better spent more wisely elsewhere." People say that, but then they privatize functions of government, and if they're lucky, they end up with the same level of service. And then now there's a middleman involved who needs to get…
You Don't Always Get What You Pay For The Economics of Privatization by Elliott D. Sclar
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=8014010029039...
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Not (as much, see below) anymore. That was specifically removed by the recent tax overhaul The more cynical view is that this was done on purpose to harm blue states that tend to have higher state income taxes
> The more cynical view is that this was done on purpose to harm blue states that tend to have higher state income taxes this could very well be true, but it does seem unfair in the first place to be able to deduct state income tax. it's great that some states have decided to increase their income taxes to offer more services to their citizens, but why should tax payers in other states have to subsidize them without…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The more cynical view is that this was done on purpose to harm blue states that tend to have higher state income taxes this could very well be true, but it does seem unfair in the first place to be able to deduct state income tax. it's great that some states have decided to increase their income taxes to offer more services to their citizens, but why should tax payers in other states have to subsidize them without…
In general, wealthy higher-tax states subsidize the poorer, lower-tax states. The argument for the deduction, which has always existed, is to prevent people from being double taxed. A higher-tax state may tax its citizens to pay for infrastructure or services, whereas a low-tax state relies on the federal government to pay for the same stuff. There are tons of people in poverty in a lot of southern lower-tax states.…
Triple is a little hyperbolic, as you could probably best describe it with a number between 2 and 3 depending on the tax rate.
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In my experience, proportionally, more smart young people who have the skills for tech work prefer living in cities with other like minded people. So if you want to hire them, you have to be there otherwise someone else will employ them.
Maybe confirmation bias?
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On top of the taxes, housing is pretty bad too. You can be a reclusive hermit in southern / central VT on the cheap, but the closer you get to Burlington / Essex Jct the more expensive it gets. This is in part caused by the size of the University of Vermont - high demand for housing, small area. Many buildings have too many units crammed into them for the same reason. Not nearly as bad as the valley, but another reas…
I’m currently looking for a 3 bedroom apartment or a house to rent in Santa Barbara, and see nothing below $3K/mo. In fact anything decent is $3.5k or more. I work remotely, now looking for a cheaper place to live. What’s life like in Vermont?
But let me tell you about Montpelier, the smallest state capitol in the country and the only one without a McDonald's. I think it is the best small community in the world, however this is coming from someone who has not lived many places. Near Montpelier things are a little cheaper (depending on how near) and if you go out 15 minutes drive or more prices begin dropping drastically. Montpelier has at least one of everything you need: Mexican place, one sushi restaurant, one pharmacy, one grocery store, one co-op, etc. It does not have much for shopping, which is true of all of central Vermont but there is a Walmart in neighboring Berlin.
If you want somewhere close to cool community events but super-cheap look into Barre, which is Montpelier's sister community--but it's that sister who has had a bit of a 'failure to launch' and everyone suspects is doing drugs. Houses are dirt cheap in Barre and it is 15-minutes drive to cool things in Montpelier. And while there are more 'bad elements' in Barre, it also has a ton of really cool people not on drugs, raising families and I believe things are starting to happen there.
Both Montpelier and Burlington are great for liberal-minded, community-oriented persons, Montpelier being a bit more into it. Burlington seems to be mostly made up of out-of-staters and can seem quiet transient as they come and go, where more people seem to stick around longer in Montpelier. If you are like this and live in Barre you will have to seek out your kind, but there are plenty there.
Vermont is great if you love the idea of hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, of owning a few acres with your own woods on them. Vermonters, especially rural Vermonters, pride themselves on minding their own business and letting everyone do whatever they want as long as they aren't bothering anyone else too much. Also we just legalized growing a few pot plants at home for your own recreational use, if you're into that.