Agriculture is the backbone of the VA economy, with the Hampton roads ports and military probably coming in second. Nova's "affluence" unfortunately does not override the majority.
Why don't they leave the tax the way it is and try and manage the current tax income better. I live in a small town but the city council uses non city non union employees. It fosters competition to drive prices down. Perhaps road maintenance goes out to bid, non union, and start the process of reducing costs. If it means NC uses cheap Alabama labor then so be it. This quote from a Yahoo Article states the state of the state. "There’s a familiar litany of problems with the American economy: Our schools stink. Our tax system is labyrinthine and wasteful. College grads can’t find decent jobs. And too many of our politicians are mouthy hypocrites who get nothing done."
North Carolina bids its road construction out to the lowest bidder, alot of the workers can't speak english or pay taxes and work for very very low wages. If they lower it any more the workers will be working 60 hours a week to make 25 grand a year. Wages are very low in this state for any type of construction. But they are building alot of major highways. Construction workers in NC have no clue what a union is. Alot of them don't know what a paid holiday is, or whats it's like to have paid vaction. They may have to give up 130 bucks a week out of their 350 check to have health ins. I build roads in NC. It's sad people think we have it good and that money could be saved by lowering the pay and benfits of workers. Also i'm mad that the new GOP leadership is going to tax me 50 bucks cause i use less gas. Maybe soon they will tax people that don't smoke cause they don't pay their "fair" share of the cigg tax. Of if you don't drink you should have to pay a extra tax cause you don't pay your "fair" share of the liqour tax. Maybe they could make the 100's of thousands of people that get paid cash and work under the table pay their tax?
Sounds like your gov is Messed up. I'm sure there are alternatives to raising taxes . Perhaps reduction in executive pay, reduction in over zealous gov employee benefits, and many more. For unions and Politicians this can be problematic but the private sector wages have been stagnate and benefits more expensive. You just can't keep coming to the average joes and expect them to pay more. A shared burden is reality. Politicians are very crafty in convincing tax payers that they are running things lean and mean when in reality much can be done. One City decided to lease commercial space rather than own it which reduced expenses and allowed a better budget.
Well, Obamacare explicitly taxes those who don't buy health insurance, so there is a national model for taxing those not using something. (Not a political thread.....just a remark that what seems not likely may be quite likely.)
I was hoping to point out that the pursuit of "fairness" in taxation invariable leads to mighty convoluted legislation. The example I chose was appropriate for that abstract aspect. Nothing more and nothing less was intended.
Your example was poor, but wrt your point about fairness, I'd say lobbying by special interests convolutes legislation. That each lobby likes to paint its interest as "fair" is just spin.
Crude calc: Assumptions Gas guzzlers weigh 4/3rds of a Prius, and consume twice the fuel; Road wear is proportional to the 4rth power of the weight. So ... The gas guzzler causes (4/3)^4 = 3.13 as much road wear as the Prius and pay twice as per mile in gas taxes. Then by gallon, the guzzlers should be taxed ~ 1.55X more than a Prius. Even heavier cars will skew towards underpayment dramatically.
Fauxnight- you make some good points, makes me feel a little better about buying a new Prius someday in the face of Virginia's triple-taxation of hybrids. But good trade-in value for a retiree is an interesting thought! Given I usually hold on to a car for 10-years+, if I am still posting on Prius chat when I trade my future next Prius, I will be most grateful. I must look into this Intellichoice service.
wjTracy, I doubt you will be too concerned with your failure to break-even after you die. Things like fear of bugs and inability to scratch that itch --- BIG TIME problems.
Interesting East Coast Hybrids Help Soften U.S. Demand for Fuel - Andrew O’Connell - The Daily Stat - Harvard Business Review
Toyota plays both sides...gas guzzling SUVs and pickups. If Toyota says anything -- they get criticized. If they say nothing people still buy hybrids. IMO, they can only lose by saying anything...thus they are quiet. Mike
We have a tradition of using the tax code to encourage behavior: charity donations - so we don't have to fund every social support program medical expenses - people getting medical care is better than having them just die or become incapacitated hybrid/EV purchase tax credit - to support expansion of fuel efficient vehicles business expense deductions (aka. mileage) - to encourage commercial activity fully-automatic weapon tax - to discourage ownership of machine guns 'sin' taxes - to discourage smoking and drinking, especially by the young We also use taxes to pay for infrastructure: airport trust fund - to build and maintain the air transportation system fuel taxes - to sometimes build and occasionally maintain roads But here we have a case of a tax specific to two classes of vehicles, EV and hybrids: discourage fuel efficient vehicles - promotes the other, wasteful vehicles the increased cost from higher gasoline demand dwarfs the fixed rate gas-tax savings No, this is an unusually poor tax which of course means it will soon be common in some States. The increase in gas prices from more consumption, especially in an era where the price is becoming inflexible, means the gas tax, part is rapidly becoming insignificant compared to the calorie cost. Bob Wilson
People without health ins have no problem using a hospital when they feel very ill or are having a heart attack, they don't stay at home and die because they don't have ins.
When people without insurance just show up at hospitals someone pays for that. It is usually tax payers and the people with insurance pay for those without insurance. Just saying.
Thats what i am saying the other poster was saying people will be taxed for not having health care. They said taxed for something they don't use but they do use it when they go into the ER.
