I think NYC could tax a bit more on the upper end, and have services to keep the city from shutting down after a little snow.
It does not snow that often here, but when it does, everything gets shut down.
Sanitation was testing those snow melting machines.
With the equipment and the personal they could truck a lot of it out, and I can see shutting buses down, but both subway lines near me are down. Having the subway up and running should be more of a priority. They should run MORE trains in the snow. Keep people out of their cars....
This is sad.
How much more do you expect the residents to be taxed? You're already paying out for city tax on top of federal, state, etc. Remember when Bloomberg greatly raised the traffic and parking tickets? If you want to stay out of the ghetto, you're paying 1700-1900 amonth for a 2 BR, 1200+ for a decent 1 BR in the outer boroughs. How about those in Nassau County paying upwards of 10K a year in yearly property taxes? The insane cost of living coupled with a poor quality of life relative to other areas of the country are why I left.
The city is broke. The enttitlement crowd are sucking up all the resources, and not contributing to the local tax base. Asking the affluent to buck up to carry those that contribute little to nothing is wrong. After I first moved to Virginia, I would complain about the lack of services and recreational facilities when compared to NY. I experienced the same snowstorms the abckidsmom did. I was taken aback by the lack of resources for snow removal. But then I realized that the state is required to balance it's budget by law. If we run out of funds, we run out of funds. Perhaps the federal gov't could learn from VA's example.
Looking to the affluent to carry everyone else reminds me of a story that explains our tax law:
UNDERSTANDING THE TAX LAW
This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Read on - it does
make you think!!
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.
The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1: the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; The ninth $18. The tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59.
That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement -- until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six -- the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?" The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being "paid" to eat their meal.
So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. I I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" "That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.
Unfortunately, Some people cannot grasp this straight-forward logic!
This is why money is leaving our country. In my personal example, I cleared over 110k this year. I bought a house in VA, and I'm happy to support the local economy and housing market. My wife and I were two former tax paying citizens of NYC, w/ combined income of over 140k before we left. That's 140k less with which the city can tax. There are many more like us, I can assure you.
When I lived in Queens, when I knew a storm was coming, I would park on the left side of the street, on the corner facing a main road. The plows push more snow to the right. All I had to do was dig a path straight out. Run your errands in the mid morning, after all the spots open up from commuters going to work. Some put their garbage cans in the spot they digged out in order to hold it. Just toss the cans back to the sidewalk. Walk to the corner bodega if you need groceries. You can't count on the city for everything.
