Cherry Kelly wrote: voguy -- like many who are already retired - trying to figure out how to put aside the thousands required for property taxes (that keep going up) and house insurances, car insurances, etc. let alone food, utilities, etc.
AND the few who have IRAs or stocks - who get charged taxes on monies already taxed when they bought into some of the IRAs, etc. See you could only deduct K from being taxed, but a lot of people put in more than that K - in hopes of building up a nest-egg for retirement. Yet when year ends sent out and if they receive more than 2K yr - oh its taxed. (Could add that interest each year already included in yearly Part B interests on tax schedules -- now must pay taxes on already taxed monies!)
In my chronically economically-depressed hometown, there has been a flight out of the city for decades now. What is left is a mix of retired textile mill workers - many first or second generation immigrants or their kids who are now retired, the poor and those who are young, with some college education, but not well-off enough to move out into a better environment.
Due to a confluence of financial disasters such as the loss of businesses, poor budgeting for infrastructure and the deliberate importation of other regions (such as Boston, New York's/ New Jersey's and Philadelphia's) unemployed poor, the city's tax base has shrunk but obligations has risen.
So, this week the city saw ANOTHER rate increase for water n top of previous-year's "temporary" rate increases for rainfall run-off.
So, as with many cities and towns, we have a city run by an entrenched bureaucracy with the first goal of keeping themselves employed. They do this by raising taxes and fees wherever and however they can. An example of this was in a segment I heard driving home on the local radio station. A caller called-in asking the guests where he could find this guy's mobile dining truck. I guess he makes excellent clamcakes and is kind of a local legend. The guess said that the caller would never find it in the city because it just costs too much in fees for him to operate his business.
And, this is happening all over the place. Our government is not about "service" anymore as much as it's about government workers staying employed.