Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking Their Jobs with Them

Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by m0llusk on Saturday September 07, 2019 @03:30PM (#20905955)

That isn't necessarily a robust analysis of cost trade offs. A good example of how this can be inaccurate is Texas which has a reputation as a relatively low tax state, but in order to fund its considerable road network levies extremely high property taxes which in turn trigger higher rents than might be expected. New Hampshire has a similar situation with low taxes being made up for with high property taxes which pay the cost of rebuilding the roads which are ripped up seasonally by frost heaves and geologic activity.

Ultimately people demand basic services which have to be paid for. Eliminating one source of funding may reduce the overall burden but more likely simply shifts funding.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by mattkrause on Saturday September 07, 2019 @08:22PM (#20907657)

And many of these services are fairly essential, so if your taxes aren't covering them, you'll end up paying out of pocket for them anyway. This can be something like fire protection (e.g., if you live somewhere unincorporated) or healthcare (e.g., US).

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by walshemj on Saturday September 07, 2019 @04:21PM (#20906249)

US property taxes (even in lower cost states) are huge compared to the UK's council tax.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by mokus on Saturday September 07, 2019 @06:23PM (#20907012)

Isn’t this just another example of what you’re replying to? UK’s VAT sounds appallingly high to American ears too, but it isn’t really meaningful to compare a single type of tax in isolation.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by walshemj on Saturday September 07, 2019 @07:11PM (#20907296)

The max council tax on say a 10 million pound mansion is around £4k - which from chats with some one living in one of the cheaper states is less than a basic 4 bed house.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by mattkrause on Saturday September 07, 2019 @08:35PM (#20907715)

Right, but other taxes make up for it.

Sales tax in many states is between 5-10 percent; the UK VAT is 20%. The top income tax bracket in the UK is a bit higher (45%) than in the US (37%) and the National Insurance Contributions are often larger than FICA (etc). The UK also has (e.g.) a TV tax, which the US doesn't.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by walshemj on Sunday September 08, 2019 @01:05PM (#20911740)

Looking at headline levels doesn't always work especially if your middle class, Share options are taxed much less harshly you get pension tax relief at your effective rate.

we don't have to pay some one to do our taxes either.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by patthebunny on Sunday September 08, 2019 @12:32PM (#20911535)

> That isn't necessarily a robust analysis of cost trade offs

Considering it's 100% complaining about taxes and has zero analysis, yeah.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by rayiner on Saturday September 07, 2019 @07:28PM (#20907379)

Extremely high relative to what? Houston’s property tax rate is half of San Francisco’s, and a bit lower than where I am in suburban Maryland.

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Re:Workers Are Fleeing Big Cities for Small Ones, and Taking... by cylinder on Saturday September 07, 2019 @07:33PM (#20907419)

No it's not? Property taxes on a home in the Houston area will range from 2.3% to 3% of the appraised value per year. That includes improvements on land and it's not prevented from rising every year with the value of the house.

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