Jacksonville leaders: Vote no on property tax amendment

[hanjin1]

Looks like I got my new statement, telling me what my new mortgage bill will be and the new property tax exemption saved me $12 from last year. I guess I can't cry about it, since I will be paying less, but I figured with the downturn of the economy that our appraised value of our homes would go down as well. To me it looks as if they have risen. any answers to this?

[RiversideGator]

Inflated tax appraisals have rendered the tax cuts meaningless.  Remember this the next time there is an election for Property Appraiser.

[tufsu1]

or better yet...remember this the next time someone asks you to vote for a property tax cut!

[RiversideGator]

Perhaps if government would cut spending, there would be no problem.  Spend only on essentials and nothing else.

[Lunican]

You mean spend only on the things you use and nothing else?

[RiversideGator]

I "use" very little in the way of government spending.  Essentials are roads, transit, police, utilities and fire.

[RiversideGator]

Yes, thats exactly what he means.  Of course, if we did that, it wouldnt take long before the whole bloody operation fell apart and Riverside would become the same slum that this mentality turned it into in the 70s.

Sure.  That's what happened.   

[tufsu1]

Perhaps if government would cut spending, there would be no problem.  Spend only on essentials and nothing else.

clearly that idea isn't going to work....see the quote below

"There's no question that when they cut state spending, it hurts the economy," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia. "But they really don't have any choice."

I will trust an economist's view more than yours....and most of them seem to concur with this assessment.

[gatorback]

Tax non profits.  Or maybe just the land owned by the non profits?

[RiversideGator]

Well River, what do you think happened to the neighborhood?

A combination of things brought Riverside low in the 1970s including a general trend towards farther out suburbs, the obsolescence of the housing stock and white flight from inner city neighborhoods.  A lack of city services had very little to do with anything.  Remember also that the City/County had been consolidated by this point too.

[RiversideGator]

Perhaps if government would cut spending, there would be no problem.  Spend only on essentials and nothing else.

clearly that idea isn't going to work....see the quote below

"There's no question that when they cut state spending, it hurts the economy," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia. "But they really don't have any choice."

I will trust an economist's view more than yours....and most of them seem to concur with this assessment.

Sorry but that doesnt fly.  I have cited elsewhere numerous economists who say just the opposite.  One need only to look to Japan in the 1990s, the US in the 1930s or any of the failed communist states to see that government spending alone does not spur economic growth.

[tufsu1]

there will always be dissent...but as with scientists and global warming, the majority of economists believe that massive investment is needed right now...and the only one who can do it is the giovernment!

[RiversideGator]

What is your source for your claim that "the majority of economists believe that massive investment is needed right now...and the only one who can do it is the giovernment [sic]"? 

And, forgetting economists for a moment, the consensus of history is that you are wrong.

[tufsu1]

well lets see...the federal government can print unlimited amounts of money....and as has become painfully obvious, can run up really large deficits too....can you name me any other entity that can do both things anyttime soon?

[RiversideGator]

Do you know what happens when "unlimited amounts of money" are printed?  I give you Zimbabwe:

New Hyperinflation Index (HHIZ) Puts Zimbabwe Inflation at 89.7 Sextillion Percent

by

Steve H. Hanke*
Professor of Applied Economics
The Johns Hopkins University
and
Senior Fellow
The Cato Institute

Zimbabwe is the first country in the 21st century to hyperinflate. In February 2007, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate topped 50% per month, the minimum rate required to qualify as a hyperinflation (50% per month is equal to a 12,875% per year). Since then, inflation has soared.   

The last official inflation data were released for July and are hopelessly outdated. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been even less forthcoming with money supply data: the most recent money supply figures are ancient historyâ€"January 2008.

Absent current official money supply and inflation data, it is difficult to quantify the depth and breadth of the still-growing crisis in Zimbabwe.  To overcome this problem, Cato Senior Fellow Steve Hanke has developed the Hanke Hyperinflation Index for Zimbabwe (HHIZ).  This new metric is derived from market-based price data and is presented in the accompanying table for the January 2007 to present period. As of 14 November 2008, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate was 89.7 Sextillion (1021) percent.

http://www.cato.org/zimbabwe