Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Merge
Folks,
I just did a quick EXCEL on the 2009 assessors data base for the town of Gilford. A whopping 48% of the taxes come from non resident taxpayers...who can't vote. So I guess when the locals vote to spend money its basically half price to them!
Ms Merge
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I beg to differ.
When your taxes go up 5%, so do mine. When Joe Doe from CT, who owns a lovely piece of real estate I can only dream of owning, sees a 5% increase in his tax bill, so do I. My 5% increase has as much of an impact on me, even though my taxes may only be $2,000/year, as it does on Joe Doe who pays $200,000/year in taxes. Simply put: an increase is an increase.
As someone who serves on a local town budget committee and school board, who owns a business and a home, believe me when I say the last thing I want to see - especially in this horrible economy - is a tax increase of any kind. I would consider a well-justified increase but nonetheless, I don't welcome it like you may think. I've never heard anyone say, "Hey, lets run up a big budget this year; the non-voting tax payers can't do a thing about it!" I do hear the people who say, "My husband's been laid off and we only have one income," or "My social security checks are getting smaller this year." I get it. I really do. It's not "party central" like you think it is when it comes to budgeting....