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My Way News
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Greenburgh doesn’t want her to leave, either. Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes – perhaps $2,000 to the town – and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills.
Talking to Feiner last week at the town senior center, she said, “I would work as long as it was a job where I could sit.”
The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes. “People shouldn’t have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends,” said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes – perhaps $2,000 to the town – and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills.
So her tax bill is $12,000.00 per year. Lets see, if she works full time, doesn’t take vacations, or get sick, she will gross $13,440.00. Hopefully this would be tax free. I cant wait to retire.
Hmm..nothing here ? As a senior in the making, I think it’s a lovely idea !
Actually, I have absolutely no plans for retirement.
Why the Fk bother ?? Unless I move to Canda, Panama, Mexico or some benevolent country with a climate conducive to staying healthy at a minimun cost..I know there’s no Fking way I’m going to be able to afford some pipe dream called retirement. ‘Course, if I can get out of here, I can sit back and laugh at the young’ens trying to pay back the debt those 50ish, white, Repugnants ran up trying to stay rich.
The latest increase to Social security and disability is 2.3%???
Let me say that Im on disability, and get $700 per month, and you ADD this much more. LESS then $21 increase.
DID they just raise min wage $0.50, over the $5.35 wage… Thats 9-10% isnt it??
And Car fuel went up, 50% this year?? from $2.10-3.10..
And what do you expect the cost of FOOD to be in the next few months, as its ALREADY going up..
DONT retire, dont quit…just DIE.
This is why I am firmly against property taxes.
You work and pay taxes on your wages, keep what’s left over, take out a mortgage on a home, pay it off, and you still have to pay the government or they can take it away! Ridiculous.
If you have to keep paying a person or entity to keep what is rightfully yours, and if you don’t they can take it away, do you really own it?
If it is truly your property, you have the right to it and over it and you wouldn’t pay anyone to keep it. Simple enough. Unfortunately, not many people have “allodial title” to their property, and it can be taken away (Google “allodial title” for more info). It’s not just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.
Additionally, true monetary inflation isn’t taken into account in the Consumer Price Index which reports absurdly low inflation like 2-4% per year (or something like that), when in fact energy costs alone in both natural gas and petroleum have sky-rocketed in the last few years. And little old people, who are on a fixed income, and the poor and middle class, are hurt the most by the Federal Reserve borrowing and just printing more dollars (the cause of true inflation). It’s a damn shame.
Why oh why do seniors on fixed income under the poverty level, and no assets besides their home have to pay ANY taxes at all?
Isn’t America wonderful? We can shove seniors out of their houses for lack of financial means to pay their taxes, yet we do EVERYTHING possible to keep billion dollar corporations and the wealthy from paying anything.
According to figures from 2 years ago, the bottom 20% of the US population earned a total of about $450 Billion, and the top one percent of the US population increased their income by $550 billion above their overall income from the previous year. So the top 1% had an INCREASE higher than the actual income of the bottom 20%.
The last threatened Bush veto was to protect the income of the top 1%, because it would shift the income somewhat towards the lower end of the income scale. Asshole.
My only thoughts of relief? That when Jesus does return, he will smite and send straight to hell all these ‘business first / Americans a far second’ assholes, which basically means every Republican out there.
That’s so mighty nice of them. Why can’t we all be as nice as our government?
Property tax is evil.
#4 – Why only damn about half of those ‘‘business first / Americans a far second’ assholes’? Don’t forget the Democrats, they are just as guilty.
I’m still trying to digest the fact that somone actually has to pay $1,000 a month just in property taxes. WTH is the valuation on that place, a million dollars??
Yes, there’s something amiss here. $12K for a 4 bedroom house? Well, maybe that’s normal for that area of NY, but in general that’s way too high.
#4,
Its already established that the TOP 1% make equal to the BOTTOM(?) 60%+.. ANd we keep paying these HIGH prices for goods. MOST of the products out there could sell at 75% off, and the maker and imported would STILL make money.
some states charge for 2 consecutive years on Property taxes.
ITS STUPID.
Not every state in the US kicks seniors out of their homes. Alaska statute provides a mandatory exemption of the first $150,000 of valuation for seniors (65+) and disabled vets (>= 50%). (OK, sometimes it is cold, but not inside my 18 inch walls.) There are six Pioneer Homes spread around the state, with 511 beds. They can be expensive if your health demands full time nursing care, but if you run out of money, they don’t kick you out. The state provides support for those without funds. Maybe you guys need to rethink living in LA or NYC.
Whether it’s seniors or younger people, if housing values go up, the only choice for you is to pay higher property taxes or move to a cheaper or crappier house.
Except in California, where the increases in property taxes are limited.
And of course the people on this blog were praising Warren Buffett for his tgax proposals, one of which would be to make seniors pay higher property taxes.
$12,000 a year in property taxes???? Unless she lives in a $900,000 home, this is insane! Rather than worry about people being forced to move to avoid ludicrous levels of taxation, how about lowering property taxes, Mr. City Manager??? The real question is when are Americans going to get fed up of this legalized extortion of their money? I know this Westchester County and that, to many of the residents, $12,000 is pocket change, but why do Americans allow governments to get away with this? When are they going to get over this love affair with government and demand that the government get out of their lives and wallets? Of course, let’s not forget, this is the state that actually elected Hillary Clinton to office!
Well 2% of a 600k home would be 12000.
Something is majorily amiss with this story. We have 500 acres with our home(valued at 1.5 million) and my brother’s(valued at 750,000.00), barn’s and stuff and we pay 18,500.00. Either they quoated the figure wrong or this women lives in a fricking big house.
I don’t like the idea. Why should people who have already given their 55 year’s plus or are disabled have to work from their wheel chairs to keep their houses. Lower or eliminate the damn taxes on them, based on their income.
This isn’t just Republican’s folk’s, this is also the tax happy Liberal’s.
There’s lot’s of comment’s about the top 1% getting tax brake’s but Bush and Congress don’t set property taxes folk’s….your state or local goverment’s do. If you don’t like this then talk to that asshat county commisioner about lowering the property taxes.
I suppose it beats Debtor’s Prison. But not by much.
The gov’t give tax breaks and bail outs to corporations to “stick around” and/or “stay in business”. As if their future is guaranteed by law, somehow (though not in the US Constitution, last time I checked). But everyone else get stuck paying more taxes, even when they can’t afford to. And the only alternative to homelessness in the US appears to be living with a relative. Who doesn’t get dime one for taking them in. Seems that the US’s high standard of living (for G.Bush, R.Cheney, the Senate, Congress, and corporate america) is pricing us out of existance. Eventually, we’ll all have to go to work for the Army. They’ll be the only ones with all of our tax money, left to pass around. I figured that one day, the US Army would take over all domestic services. And Cheney’s Halliburton will glean a nice profit from a militaristic welfare state.
How come downsizing is not considered an option for her? Why can’t she sell her house, buy a condo, and set aside any cash left over into her retirement account?
As mentioned, she lives alone in a house that is taxed $12k a year. Speculation in the posts value the house at over $600k. Perhaps she simply has more house than she needs at this point in her life.
Regarding the issue of spiraling property taxes pushing senior citizens out of their houses. We had the same problem in California in the 1970’s. It resulted in the tax revolt called Proposition 13. So unless other states want their own prop-13 style tax revolt on their hands, then they had better start rethinking how they assess taxes on homes.
Ron is correct. She has made the decision to live in a home she cannot afford. Or she can barely afford it by working part time and taking a reverse mortgage.
This is similar to the sub-prime mortgage mess. If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t be living there. Also similar to people that max out credit cards, buy a house they can’t afford to furnish and lease a $600/mo SUV. Why is it our responsibility to help these people out?
Places that are far cheaper abound and have an excellent quality of life.
This isn’t uncommon. I grew up in a wooded area, out of town. 40 years later the area has developed into a resort area. Both the appraisal and rates are through the roof. The tax bill is considerable higher than the mortgage payments my Dad made. If he was still alive he would be hard put to live there, even with the good federal retirement he had. My sister and I sold the place partially because to the high taxes.
#20. Exactly, Taxes went up with inflated property value. But do you think they will lower the taxes when the assessed value of everyones property is plummeting right now, as we speak? Think again.
18,19,20
so me one that will fit in with only getting $700 per month.
Then you can add,
Utilities $300 per month
Food $150
Insurance on car, $30-50
GAS for car 1 tank, $56
#21. Of course taxes won’t go down. I live near Chicago where they were pushing the largest property tax increase in their history.
Politicians are addicted to doing good in the community. That keeps them in office. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news that services and entitlements are going to be cut.
#21. Of course taxes won’t go down. I live near Chicago where they were pushing the largest property tax increase in their history.
Politicians are addicted to doing good in the community. That keeps them in office. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news that services and entitlements are going to be cut.
I recall federal budget cuts that had everyone up in arms were simply cuts in the year-to-year _increases_ that had been previously planned. Can you imagine _actually_ cutting the budget in order to reduce taxes?
#11 Whether it’s seniors or younger people, if housing values go up, the only choice for you is to pay higher property taxes or move to a cheaper or crappier house.
Why is that the only choices?
What about the choice of organizing homeowners and fighting the government?
Laying down and taking it (which seems to be the tactic of choice in today’s America) is a terrible choice. We’re a nation of jellyfish.
There isn’t a problem facing America today that couldn’t be solved with a pitchfork and a torch.
#24. That’s not very democratic. If someone doesn’t like your policies, it would be OK for them to take up a pitchfork and torch against you? I hope that’s not actually your opinion.
How do we define “fair” taxes? By voting for one politician or another. If someone would run on cutting property taxes, I would look at them. But they would also be required to identify how those revenues are going to replaced or what services will face cuts.
As far as the taxes not being fair because they keep going up, I bet they won’t complain when the house is sold or they take a reverse mortgage that the home value increased from when they bought 40 years ago.
Not saying I am the most financially wise around. So if I can’t afford my taxes and upkeep on my home at that age, should I get special treatment simply because I wanted to live here forever even though I didn’t plan for it? Rising cost of living shouldn’t surprise anyone.
#25 – That’s not very democratic.
Neither is our government.
If someone doesn’t like your policies, it would be OK for them to take up a pitchfork and torch against you?
I don’t have policies, but you need to understand that pitchforks and torches are a metaphor for “the public addressing their representation” as a group.
I’m not advocating violence.
has anyone noted that what they propose to pay is under the National Minimum Wage?
#27
UNDEr min wage at 40 hours per week..
Yes, the min wage increase was 9-10%, and the SS and SSD are only going up 2.3%(?)… Look at #2..
#27 – I did notice that… But I was too busy soaking torches in oil and sharpening my stock of pitchforks.
An article on Newsvine:
Local and municipal governments have found a way to help poor, old people pay their taxes.The program will also provide government with highly qualified workers to ease their overload of tasks. On the surface this sounds like a wonderful way to kill two birds with one stone. Granted, it could be much more than that by helping all Americans in completing their civic duties. The idea or process is currently being touted as a way to improve local governments and help those in need. A win, win situation. Not!
First, consider the regulation of such an undertaking. Who decides how the program is run, the people or some office holder or worse yet, bureaucrat? What criteria makes people eligible? Age? If for the older, will the labor for tax funds be considered as income and against any other government check they may receive? Do we put people on the program because help is needed or because we want the taxes paid?
Second, could we trust such a system? I can just see it now. Mayor’s secretary is about to retire so he/she quits paying taxes in order to qualify for the program. After retirement the secretary goes right back to their old job and their taxes get paid all the while they are receiving a retirement check for the same job. Sounds wild doesn’t it? But we all know this, or something like it, will come to pass. The hallmark of such schemes is misuse.
Third, In watching several video clips of the programs currently in operation it was implied that the program was helping those whose property taxes were in arrears and who had lived in some rather grand homes for decades. The implication was that these people deserved this special protection. Agreed. But don’t we all? Unless such government largess can be delivered to all the program is limited in scope. It is for the few, not the many. I could even go along with that if it were a needy few. Being allowed your remaining years in a large expensive house is not something government should be into. The circumstances surrounding the reason of their not providing for their old age and having such high property taxes more than likely were caused by the very government they now will be indentured to.
To sum up, this is another one of those slippery slope situations. What we are doing is greasing the top edge of that slope. We are opening a can of worms that will take America even farther from its foundations than ever. If we want cradle to grave protection, services and jobs to come from government then we will have to accept the results. I predict those results will eventually lead to mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and a lack of accountability by government workers who are only there to pay their taxes. Most really needy people, poor people, don’t get any relief from this program simply because they never owned a home, never had a chance to qualify for property taxes. But that is all right, we will get them in the end for we can find jobs for those who can’t pay fines and forfeitures. We can put them all to work if we strictly enforce all laws and get them indebted to the system. Hey, we will kill a whole flock of birds that way.