Last week I got an email from some survey company to do a 15 minute survey "about your car" and get a $20 Amazon gift card. I looked up the survey site and it was legit, so I did the survey (it was about if I purchased my next Ford vehicle what security features, like if it got stolen, etc, would I like, possible pay for). It took me about 10 minutes to do. Yesterday I got the email with the $20 Amazon gift card, so that was nice and easy. I'm glad I didn't just assume the email was spam and delete it.
I had ended up just ordering the earthing mat (that came with free shoes) for my sis and having it shipped here, since they wouldn't ship to Canada. It came yesterday, so I ran into the post office and mailed it up to her. That cost $60 for a 6# box. All told, it Canadian money it cost her $268 to reimburse me and that was cheaper than she could get the mat from some Canadian website and it didn't come with a free pair of shoes either. She said she was leery ordering from the Canadian website she found, as she wasn't sure if it was legit or the exact same product it claimed it was.
DD and her dh were recently told their company they work for will be laying off about 10% of the workforce, so of course that made them uneasy. DD said her boss told her on Monday that she will not be laid off, she is too critical to their department and he didn't think their department would be affected, anyway. SIL feels confident his job is secure, as well, so that's good news.
I guess I spoke too soon when I thought my cough was finally over. I had a couple days where I barely coughed (more like cleared my throat) and since yesterday I'm back to the annoying cough.
We are supposed to be getting our heater added to the garage in a couple of weeks. I thought, when dh first inquired about what best to put there (and neither of us can remember what the estimated cost was now!), he had talked to our HVAC guy. He had told him we didn't need it until later fall, so no rush. Turns out it was a guy from the propane company, not the HVAC, who we would purchase it from and they install it. I'm kind of glad about that, as the propane company's prices are more "set", whereas the HVAC guy just seems to charge whatever he wants LOL. Both dh and I seem to recall the price quoted was around $2500. Plus, since it's through the propane company, I'm sure they just add it to my account and send me a bill/statement to pay. This will be a propane wall type furnace (like we have in our shop) so we'll be using more propane in the winter, once it's installed. Hopefully, being much smaller than the shop, it won't take as much to heat it. DH just wants to keep it warm enough to keep the chill off in below freezing temps. This propane guy was actually one of the guys who did some of the site work when we were building, digging the ditches and whatnot for all the utilities. He and dh got along really well, then later he went to work for the propane company and has now been there quite a few years.
DH found an interesting news article yesterday that some residents of our state are suing our governor and Dept of Revenue over the huge property tax increases we had in 2023 (I'm sure those of you that were sick of me talking about when I was trying to appeal our increase, remember, LOL). The average increase for residential properties was 51%! (they wanted to increase me 52%, I got it down to 32% in my appeal). Business's saw a DECREASE in their taxes. The states largest business taxpayer, saw a 20% decrease. Also, overall the state collected just under a BILLION dollars MORE in 2023, than the previous year, all on the backs of residential property owners. The article also stated that the plaintiffs and their attorneys are attempting to get this ruled as a class action lawsuit. Let's hope so.
Our property taxes went up a full 100% 2 years ago now. When I questioned it they said "Well, the school tax passed so...." Yeah, it passed but who would have thought our tax would double? Like you, I showed some comparisons of neighbors (found online) and one of them, the mayor's house. I was told by the county I can't compare to neighbors because I don't know what special rates they have for being a certain age, etc. So basically I got no where.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't given any special rates for seniors or even homesteading. Also, I've seen pointed out numerous times that our governors house he owns went down, while pretty much every other house in his neighborhood went up.
DeleteThere is actually a property tax credit for low income seniors, but it’s like $30,000 a year income limit. I only found out about this when looking at the increase of my neighbors last year. I was shocked to see how little one of them was paying so I looked a little deeper and found out about that reduction for some seniors.
DeleteOur governor is corrupt. Just no other way to put it. He won’t get voted out because most people don’t care, and don’t pay attention. My Dh and I were just talking about this last nite. He said surely most people don’t believe all the lies in the tv ads and mailings. I said I think a lot of them do, even though most of it is pretty easy to fact check. The news has been doing some fact checking, but they are too late. Ballots have gone out, and are being sent in. They should have been doing it all along.
Diane
Diane - I agree he is corrupt. He could care less about our state and it's citizens. Being governor was just a way to advance his political career and increase his wealth. The stuff coming out about him and Sheehy (and especially Sheehy) are too late- this stuff should have come out this summer, after they won the primary.
DeleteSome of the crap did come out nationally, but our local news chose not to cover it. Not sure about other areas of course. And the people that do believe the ads are all lies didn’t fact check tester ads, which are, for the most part, factual, according to our news channel. It’s a bad deal all the way around for our state, but all we can do is vote. I don’t agree with Tester on everything, most but not all, but he’s a decent man and he really does a lot for this state. He’s likely going to be replaced by someone out for himself that lies every time he opens mouth.
DeleteI don't agree with some of Tester either, but I do also think he's a decent person. It's telling of his 18 years being our senator - his net worth is only like $5million - how many other long term (or even short term) senators can say that. Amazing how a job that pays $174,000 a year can turn people into 8 and 9 figure millionaires.
DeleteGah, don't kill me, but here's the thing: If capital gains tax, business tax, etc are lowered, revenue for schools suffer, which has to be made up. One way is through levies, (which are voted on) another is by increasing the number of taxable parcels (ie: build more houses, and frankly, I moved here to get away from suburbia.) Finally, there's the reassessment periods where the assessors do what assessors do. So here's the rub: Areas with good school districts tend to be great places to live! Face it, a well educated population benefits the entire society. And, even if the schools are "mid" (my kids' new adjective) they still have to be, as they should be, because we are a country that believes in public education, and for very good reasons, funded. That money is going to come from somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThat said, those who would benefit the most from ending this supply side nonsense, can't make the connection, can they? Here, there is a referendum to repeal the capital gains tax. (Over 250k in capital gains. Things like the sale of homes, farms, small businesses exempt.) If, say, you make 251k in capital gains, you would only get taxed on the amount OVER 250k, in this case 1k. But people see "less taxes " and think it's a good thing, but they don't understand it's less taxes for less.than 1% , not you, and never you. In fact, it's going to mean more taxes for you. The less tax would help less than 1% of population and drive up the taxes and costs you are already paying to make up the difference.They can't see that percentage wise, they pay more in property taxes already than those who will benefit from such. (That is to say, the billionaires funding the movement.) I am willing to bet that's why your big businesses saw a decrease while you and your neighbors saw such an increase
And the other thing is your governor is foul. I can tell you the solution, and that's to vote him out, and continue down ballot voting the same way.
And no, I am not sick of hearing you talk about property taxes. It's a topic I am very interested in.
::jumping off soapbox::
I'm not very optimistic that he will get voted out for a second term. Will just have to hope he doesn't do even more damage the next 4 years, when his term limit will be up.
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