The sheer, utter disconnect from reality and blindness to consequences is absolutely overwhelming.
“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.
“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”
There’s more at the link (may disappear behind a paywall). More here.
Ye Gods and little fishes. She voted for every increase in taxes, and is now bitching about paying them? With a doofidity level this high, she’d probably have voted for the tea tax in Boston!
Peter
For some people, the whole "cause -> effect" thing is really hard, especially for people that think "government money" always comes from somebody elses pockets.
She voted for the programs and that other people would pay the taxes.
Seattle's vote for a $15.00 minimum wage and it's the same thing.
You Starbucks Mocha latte grange will be $12.00 please!
Gerry
Unintended consequences, indeed.
I don't know about HER, but if I had to pay that much money for owning my own property, to paraphrase Lawdog, I'd be "in the sodding bell tower if anyone needed me".
But then, I live in New Zealand, where the question is not "do we want to mark off all the light-Communist check marks", it's "do we tick off the whole list now, or do we save some for later?"
I hear about how you guys have arguments over whether to have a goods and services tax OR an income tax, and I suddenly understand why there's always some politico in the news bitching about how all the young people are heading off overseas and burning their citizenship papers as they go.
Bit of hyperbole there, but still. BOTH.
I think there might be one of those helpful things where if you're below an arbitrary income line you're 'impoverished' and deserve lots of free money, but if you're over it you have to pay all the taxes and get no free money, so that helps too, I bet.
And you people see twelve dollar coffees as an exaggerated joke.
I look at other countries and they're all as bad or worse.
Australia's the traditional destination, but their police- I hear -are badly behaved, and incompetent to boot by the look of things. The proles have no rights to speak of- to my way of mind there's one big right to provide the steel that backs all the others, and without it you've got stuff all, no matter what the laws may officially say -and for all that they've got a new government with a bit of iron in their backs, you look at the news and letters to the editor and you'd think they were being led by the reincarnation of Hitler.
Formerly-Great Britain.. the English used to have guts, once. They conquered half the frakking world, and now their soldiers have to look over their shoulders for rampaging musulmans.
South Africa is handily described by the words "South Africa", or even just "Africa" if one feels especially profane.
Can't imagine how you feel, looking back after giving so much in the way of blood and tears trying to make the place better.
As for the 'States, by the time I got there I'd probably feel right at home. Well, like I was AT home. Really not the same thing.
I can understand why so many people are choosing not to have children these days.