that's the thing. I don't think we should be forced to run power or water.
I consider myself a very liberal voter, but on property rights and property taxes is where I become quite the opposite.
If I buy my land, I feel I should only pay taxes on it so long as I want the services those taxes provide. If I don't want a fire or emergency services, my kids don't go to school, I don't use public water, sewer, or power, and I don't own a car, then I shouldn't have to pay a damn thing.
PHeller wrote: that's the thing. I don't think we should be forced to run power or water. I consider myself a very liberal voter, but on property rights and property taxes is where I become quite the opposite. If I buy my land, I feel I should only pay taxes on it so long as I want the services those taxes provide. If I don't want a fire or emergency services, my kids don't go to school, I don't use public water, sewer, or power, and I don't own a car, then I shouldn't have to pay a damn thing.
+1,000,000 You shouldn't have to 'rent' your own property back from the government
Strizzo wrote: sounds like if someone were to go out there and build a shack, run power, water and plumb it to at least a septic tank, he could say he's living there and they can't really do much about it
But to legally build a habitable structure he is going to have to toe the line. Yea, he could build an "FU neighbor" house, but he says he's tired of all the crap. He's probably going to get a few bucks for this property, so he can find somewhere else to go hang out. I recommend some wooded property where his neighbors can't see him.
To get water, he would need a septic tank. To get that, he needs a lot of money. A cheap septic system is like ten large, give or take. Even in Arkansas, outside of the city limits you still need a permit for a septic system. No other permits, just one for septic, requiring an inspection (test), etc. before it can even be approved to be built.
Yeah, we're missing part of this picture. New subdivision next door, developer wants his property, etc. I really like that hog farm threat. Nothing worse than those, except maybe a chicken operation, which is about as bad.
jeffmx5 wrote: +1,000,000 You shouldn't have to 'rent' your own property back from the government
Slightly off-topic:
In Canada, what are property taxes like?
You northern's have got some mighty cheap property and much more excessable health care.
I'll take it a step further. I kinda think it's a crock that you have to own the land to live on it. Not all that long ago, a fella could pack up, head west and live however he saw fit. Living off the land. I don't want to do it, mind you, but I hate that you can't.
We've basically made it mandatory to have money. You shouldn't have to have money to live. If you chose to, you shoud be able to live as humans lived for millions of years. Like I say, it's not for me, but I'd like to live in a coutry where a few folks wonder out to the woods, cut down some trees, build a cabin, pick berries and fish.
PHeller wrote: Slightly off-topic: In Canada, what are property taxes like?
It depends on where you are.
City taxes are similar to yours.
I pay $1300/yr on a 40 acre farm.
150 +/- acres of bush up north is $100/yr.
fast_eddie_72 wrote: I'll take it a step further. I kinda think it's a crock that you have to own the land to live on it. Not all that long ago, a fella could pack up, head west and live however he saw fit. Living off the land. I don't want to do it, mind you, but I hate that you can't. We've basically made it mandatory to have money. You shouldn't *have* to have money to live. If you chose to, you shoud be able to live as humans lived for millions of years. Like I say, it's not for me, but I'd like to live in a coutry where a few folks wonder out to the woods, cut down some trees, build a cabin, pick berries and fish.
We used to do that here in America. But we killed most of them off and made the rest live in Casinos, excuse me, reservations.
Zomby woof wrote:PHeller wrote: Slightly off-topic: In Canada, what are property taxes like?It depends on where you are. City taxes are similar to yours. I pay $1300/yr on a 40 acre farm. 150 +/- acres of bush up north is $100/yr.
$3,400 a year for a $100k house with a small backyard in these parts. It's disgusting. Some places it's even higher.
Cone_Junky wrote: We used to do that here in America. But we killed most of them off and made the rest live in Casinos, excuse me, reservations.
Yeah, I wasn't actually making a point about that this time. But I do think about that a lot. There's so much "nothing" out here in the West. Would have been interesting if we had left enough of the country to them to let them continue living as they did. It might really offer an interesting contrast to modern America.
I've driven through a few reservations on vacations. Stopped in Wounded Knee for an hour or so. Man, read a little of the shabby memorial there and you'll really start to get bummed out.
DaveEstey wrote: $3,400 a year for a $100k house with a small backyard in these parts. It's disgusting. Some places it's even higher.
Ever see the price of health insurance in the States?
Dr. Hess wrote: Yeah, we're missing part of this picture. New subdivision next door, developer wants his property, etc.
I agree we are missing the part of the story.. The situation you described above was how my favorite jeep junkyard was closed down.
I am no fan of eminent domain for private gain.
DaveEstey wrote: $3,400 a year for a $100k house with a small backyard in these parts. It's disgusting. Some places it's even higher.
try $7k a year on anything live able here
I'm an hour from Toronto and I pay $1400 year for a two 1/2 storey house in a neighbourhood where most of the houses are worth about $215,000. Tiny, tiny backyard.
Hm. $825 a year in property taxes on a ~$185K house in a bedroom community subdivision. I guess I got it pretty good. But my health insurance for 2 was ~$7K this year. Can't have everything, I guess.
But back to the thread subject: as noted earlier more than likely the McMansion thing is why he's being pressured. A friend owns some property outside of Chester, SC which is rural farmland, part of the property is a roughly 75 acre remnant of his dad's farm which operated from the 1930's through the 1970's. Most of the farm got sold off (what's left is mostly several deep ravines, makes for some damgood dirt biking! 
) the remainder has the original small farmhouse, a weathered wood barn and a couple of 'tractor nuggets'. Part of that 'country charm'.
My bud lives across the road and maybe 1/4 mile up, for a few years he has been getting letters from the county and other local residents demanding that the tractor nuggets be removed and that the house and the barn be demolished. He of course has given them the finger.
About septic tanks: they can be installed reasonably cheaply if the land 'perks' but if it doesn't then you have to install a 'leach field' and that's where it gets expensive. Usually sandy soil or black dirt will perk, but clay and other hard composition won't. Then you run into the problem that in some areas even if it perks septic tanks are not allowed. That means that if you have one, you will get a notice that by X date you must 'tap on' to the municipal sewer system. There is generally a 'tap on' fee which can be as high as $6K, and that's before you actually put down pipe. That has been a real bone of contention in the areas down here where the muni systems have taken over old farmland etc.
Shim wrote: try $7k a year on anything live able here
Maybe our city taxes aren't similar.
I'd heard your property taxes got expensive about 20 years ago, but that's just crazy.
You'll need to log in to post.
