creteman wrote:
@solarguy2003:
"On the other hand, many local government bodies are desperate for money and will tax anything they think they can. Hey, they like to pay their bills too I guess."
- Well then maybe they would like like to lose their jobs and homes like so many of the people they overlord, eh?... Increasing taxes on people in this economic climate should result in immediate petition for recall of any involved elected official, or being fired, if not elected.
True enough. The thing is: Our elected government officials are loyal to the people who get them elected - campaign contributors. It's a sad thing that in our broken system, the guy with the biggest advertising budget is almost always the winner, so "vote him out" doesn't really work because the candidates that get enough air time to be recognized are never the guys who uphold the people over their corporate contributors.
The simple fact of the matter is that if certain government officials decide to go after you, your life is ruined or ended:
The IRS choosing to prosecute you for tax evasion will probably devastate you financially whether you are guilty or not.
You get declared a domestic terrorist and you're screwed or dead.
The only silver lining in this situation is that the levels of government (local, state, federal) don't have a lot of loyalty to each other. In the OP's case, if the tax rises out of line with comparable situations, there's probably an option to appeal to a higher authority. On the other hand, if the local authorities just taxes everyone in the area at ridiculous levels, the only options are pretty much pay or move.
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