97HawkLT1

iTrader: (11)

Most of you know there is an issue we will be voting on in the upcoming presidential primary election. Gov. Christ has put a bill forward that is a tax cut that is supposed to give some relief to the taxpayers of Florida. Most of you probably also know that the housing market and the economy in general is down right now. While Gov. Christ has promised that services will not be affected, the sad truth is that services as well as many other things will be greatly affected. Every county in Florida received less money in their budget this year than last and if this tax cut goes through, the state has already said that it will cut the budgets even more. There will be quite a few people who will lose their jobs. People who work for the county or city doing anything from keeping roads looking nice to upkeep of public parks and recreation. And worst of all, the programs we need the most will be the first ones cut. Community programs that are aimed at helping "at risk" children, which is really the only way of actually PREVENTING kids from beginning a life of crime. And all of this so that the average taxpayer can save $240. While the homestead exemption and the ability to take your tax status with you when you move will help some people, everybody will be hurt by the drastic cuts that each county is going to receive. The county and city governments have said they will start charging fees for services that used to be free to make up the difference.

So I ask that each of you that are going to be voting, PLEASE do your homework on this bill and decide which is better for you and the general public before you vote for a tax cut that may have long lasting negative impacts for a short term tax reprieve.

And by the way, I am a Republican.

68birdls1

iTrader: (46)

I am in total agreeance with you! I am voting no

72VenturaII

iTrader: (32)

Look at how much the tax reciepts have increased in your county in the last 4 or 5 years. Maybe it is time to reign in the free spending on social programs and get the government back to basics.

02silvaZ

iTrader: (12)

^i agrre, i dont remember them asking us anything when my property taxes went up 40% from 2005 to 2006, i dont use any of the free services, they dont pertain to me so why should my tax bill increase so much and i am not not seeing anything to benefit me from it, i agree with what you are saying but at the same time they have raised taxes sharpely and abruptly too many times on us lately.

The Crow

I AGREE!!! VOTE NO!!

2001NBMZ28

Been doing my homework and downloaded lots of newspaper and local news website articles - so far I'm leaning towards yes.

mnypitZ

iTrader: (19)

My taxes are $5200 a year and I am only paying on half the value of my home right now. If I was to buy my house today, or if I was to try to sell it, whoever bought it would be paying over $10,000. How is that going to help the housing and economy come up. If anything it deters people from buying. I NEVER see an officer in my neigborhood, I have to beg them to pick up garbage half the time even though I pay extra for that, I dont use public transportation, the roads suck around here, and I could go on and on.

All the money I see the government spending is in the projects. They get fantastic landscaping, multiple georgeous bus stops, free housing, free transportation, etc etc, and my money pays for it all. And now they want to waste more money on a train from Deland to Kissimee that I will never use, but my money will be paying for the station and the maintanance.

I agree with 72venturaII. Reign in these entitlement programs and get the government back to the way it should be, SMALL.

Nothing irritates me more than driving around Deland and seeing my hard earned money being wasted on the "poor people" They sit on their asses drinking beer, smoking pot and crack and then bitch that they are poor. Then the county and city goes and gives them more. Then they throw their garbage all over and dont take care of what they have and the county goes and cleans it all up again and it starts all over again while my taxes keep going up and up.

No my taxes are way too high now, and from the research I have seen this tax break is a good thing.

It has been proven over and over again that lowering taxes stimulates the economy. Not the other way around. Do you know how many parts I could buy for my Z with $5200, and the companies that would benefit from me spending it?

97HawkLT1

iTrader: (11)

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing I dislike more than money being spent on people who don't deserve it. But it isn't quite as simple as saying gov't money is spent only on "poor people" that don't do anything. As I mentioned before, the only way that you are going to prevent crime in the future is by taking "at risk" children that are young and make sure they stay in school and keep them in after-school programs that will keep them out of drugs and with positive role models. Trying to fix adults that commit crime now is useless and the amount of crime and drugs currently and historically have been happening proves it. Parents that are poor role models are the main cause of children getting into trouble at ridiculously young ages. Everyday you see these 13 year old kids in gangs and killing people on the news. Whose fault is that? It's there lousy parents. And the way to prevent it and eventually lower the amount of people that start a life of crime is to keep kids in gov't run programs. The justice system focuses on punishment instead of prevention. And it just doesn't work that well. I find this to be one of the most important issues facing the country right now.

And these programs are the first cut. Not the ones that give money to deadbeats.

But if you have researched and decided that this tax cut is best for you, then I respect that decision and thats what you should vote for. My main reason for starting this post was to urge everybody to research this and make a smart decision and not just vote one way or another without knowing what it is about. And this is a good idea in any election.

mnypitZ

iTrader: (19)

Fair enough. I just get so pissed when I see my tax bill every year, and have to stroke that check, only to see it being squandered. The government functioned just fine 2 years ago when my taxes were only $2100, so why do they need so much more now? Nothing has gotten better, if anything it has gotten worse. In 3 years that I have lived here, I have never, ever seen a Deland cop in the neighborhood, and the only time I have seen County Sheriffs is when they are following me.

The fact that most homeowners will only save $240 is in the short term. The real benefit is long term homeowners. No my taxes wont go down much right away, but they wont go up that much anymore either under this plan. THat is my goal. Honestly I could care less about the immediate small cash reward. I just cant afford them to keep going up. Much more and I will have to sell. The taxes almost double my mortgage right now.

RichieFlorida

I say vote yes. County government spending is out of control. The counties want you to believe there will be all these cuts. In my line of work I see too many elderly citizens trying to decide between food or medicine since there retirement funds and social security is a farce. The county I live in spent over a million dollars last year on a high tech helicopter in case we ever need one. This new copter has every electrical gizmo possible. Now when someone robs a convenience store we can send out our multi million dollar fleet to pursue. This is an overkill and an example of counties spending money like drunken sailors.

Amoretti

iTrader: (4)

Not that this is entirely relative to the thread, but the state just decided to pay tuition for my sister to finish school. Not to bad mouth family too much, but she's dumb as a rock and studying a bullshit degree IMO that will never EVER be applied in her life or her job. Mind you, this is after she essentially flunked out of college and started working full time for the state pushing paper.

On the other hand, the state has stopped paying my tuition because my GPA wasn't high enough for their standards, not taking into account that I'm studying one of the more difficult degrees as far as amount of work applied to earning the degree (Mechanical Engineering).

So in short, my tax dollars are paying for my sister to go to school for no particular reason while I'm getting shafted for trying to be somebody. **** that...

EDIT: I may or may not vote no.
</rant>

2001NBMZ28

The state get's it's money.......from taxpayers.......then decides how to spend it......

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Of course the things that hurt you most will be what's cut
first. This is how they trick you into coughing it back up.
No way are they going to sell the jets and fire the hundreds
of do-nothing directors who just happen to be party loyalists.
But if you don't take it back when you can, guess what? Tax
creep is forever unless you want to dump some tea in the
harbor.

There are plenty of advocates for every pork program and
every employee union. So let them protect their own, you
can bet that they will. Who's protecting your right to your
own paycheck & property? Yeah.

97HawkLT1

iTrader: (11)

Since we have all gotten into a tax debate, what do you guys think of the Fair Tax Act? Wouldn't it be nice to kiss the IRS goodbye? Check out this site.

http://www.fairtax.org

Mike Huckabee supports this tax plan and wants to enact it if he gets the office. I don't know which candidate I want to vote for yet (as if the pool was that good) but I do like this tax idea.

mnypitZ

iTrader: (19)

Fair Tax is awesome. I wish more of the field supported it. Their excuse is that it cant get passed anyway, so why support it. I say, with an attitude like that, nothing will ever get done. I dont know about Huckabee though. His pledges are great, but his past doesnt match. He supported giving illegals free tuition. He supports a nationwide ban on smoking. I dont smoke so it wouldnt affect me in any way, but if you take that freedom away, what is next? There are a few other items that I dont like too, but what he is saying now all sounds good. I guess it is his position changing I dont like.

But like you said, what do we really have to choose from? Not much.

Gregg 00SS

iTrader: (8)

Don't forget, YOU don't get to pick what services are going to be dropped as a result. As a Deputy in SE Florida, I've seen first hand how these tax cuts have effected us, and this is just the beginning. Our traffic unit had to get rid of all their motorcycles and we just got rid of our medi-vac helicopter which was provided as a free service to all residents. A 3rd party compnay now provides medi-vac services in our county at the cost of about $10,000 a flight. Our county parks are no longer locked at night which opens them up to vanadalism and theft and our school resource program will disappear next school year if the school board can find a why to fully fund it because the SO can't afford to pay for it with current budget cuts.

I'm sure the Fire Department as well as many other agencies that everyone takes for granted are also under similar constraints. But as usual, no one really cares about all that until they need them.

QWIK Z of OP

iTrader: (1)

"He supported giving illegals free tuition." Actually that is a rumor that is somewhat true, but not really... Sean Hannity had him on the show a couple of weeks and asked him all these questions so that Huckabee could clear any misconceptions. He said that the tuition "breaks" that he supported were for the children of illegals that had been in the US school system K-12. He felt that the wrongs of their parents should not be passed onto them (because they are actually legal) and that if they had been in school that whole time and wanted to try and better their life that he supported it.

he also talked about taxes but i wasnt really paying attention then...

well i know i'm supporting Huckabee b/c he is the best candidate to me. plus he's "chuck norris approved" lol

2001NBMZ28

It's my understanding the fair tax would require the repeal of the 16th amendment, so not happening anytime soon. Huckabee IMO is a liberal, so voting for the most conservative candidate in the primary, we'll see what happens after that.

mnypitZ

iTrader: (19)

I didnt get free tuition, and I am a legal citizen and so are my parents. So why give it to illegal"s children? Why give the a "break". I didnt get one.

I have been looking at his website on the issues and like all he has there. Some things I dont really care about, but on the key issues I think he has good things to say. Honestly for me it is between him and Romney. I just like Huckabee's tax policy better. I just dont know if he can really get it handled. I hope so though.

QWIK Z of OP

iTrader: (1)

i didnt say "free"!!! lol and to the best of my knowledge it wasnt free. but i can tell you that if you are a minority in almost every state you get some type of discount/scholarship/grants... and NO i dont agree with it. I think its ridiculous that because i'm white AND a male that i'm affected by "reverse discrimination" aka affirmative action. i'm tired of when minorities scream and cry they get their way and the majority gives in b/c they are afraid to be called "racist".