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Heritage - adding Sales Tax to more states
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134 posts in this topic

3 hours ago, tth2 said:

On the other hand, in exchange for paying a lot more for a luxury like art, you pay a fraction of what Americans have to pay for essentials like college tuition, healthcare, retirement, etc. 

Most of my colleagues are Europeans and they seem to view their take home pay as being almost all disposable income, with little need to save or invest, while i’m desperately trying to squirrel away money each month to cover college tuition (and I only have 1 kid to pay for) and to ensure my wife and I will have enough to live on after I retire.

All valid points and I don't disagree at all...only problem is that the system is crumbling and that I'm pretty sure the end is in sight. My retirement age was postponed with 9 more years in one fell swoop last year and while for over 50 years 90% of the Belgians were relatively well off, now over 15% don't have enough in the bank to cover one month's wages. Healthcare is feeling the crunch too, at least a proper college education is still very cheap compared to the US. But then again we no have no natural resources at all,

We are not particularly smart in comparison with other countries, but I just want to state that our brains or maybe more correct our level of education is all we have.

In Belgium we invest ca 5–6% of our gross national product in education.

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8 hours ago, tth2 said:

It was brilliant for CL to move to Maine, as the number of comic collectors who reside there must be pretty minimal.

Yeah, but the two guys that do live there are PIZZED OFF!!

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2 hours ago, delekkerste said:
10 hours ago, tth2 said:

It was brilliant for CL to move to Maine, as the number of comic collectors who reside there must be pretty minimal.

Yeah, but the two guys that do live there are PIZZED OFF!!

lol 

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2 hours ago, zhamlau said:

And the sick part is we spend more on k-12 education then almost country on the planet, we just arent getting much for it. Thats why I get so tired of new invented taxes, I just dont feel like Im getting anything for the increases.

It's even worse at the college level.  For years I wondered where all the tuition increases were going, since all my friends in academia assured me they were still being paid a pittance.

Then we went on a tour of colleges last summer and the answer became apparent.  The colleges have been in an arms race to build newer and glitzier [fill in the blank].  Dorms that look like rooms at the Waldorf?  Check.  Palatial new labs?  Check.  25 different eating locations on campus, some 24-hour, catering to every possible type of dietary preference?  Check.  

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10 hours ago, tth2 said:

On the other hand, in exchange for paying a lot more for a luxury like art, you pay a fraction of what Americans have to pay for essentials like college tuition, healthcare, retirement, etc. 

Most of my colleagues are Europeans and they seem to view their take home pay as being almost all disposable income, with little need to save or invest, while i’m desperately trying to squirrel away money each month to cover college tuition (and I only have 1 kid to pay for) and to ensure my wife and I will have enough to live on after I retire.

Advocates of high taxes in the US don't realize what high taxes get you in other countries.  Here we just get screwed for paying them.  

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10 minutes ago, tth2 said:

It's even worse at the college level.  For years I wondered where all the tuition increases were going, since all my friends in academia assured me they were still being paid a pittance.

Then we went on a tour of colleges last summer and the answer became apparent.  The colleges have been in an arms race to build newer and glitzier [fill in the blank].  Dorms that look like rooms at the Waldorf?  Check.  Palatial new labs?  Check.  25 different eating locations on campus, some 24-hour, catering to every possible type of dietary preference?  Check.  

Oh lordy trying so hard to not get sucked into a political rant but taxes are a political issue so... don’t forget your children’s tuition now has to pay for administrative staff salaries for positions that didn’t exist 20 years ago when I went to college.

Gotta pay your dean of diversity, your assistant deans of inclusion, etc.

Its pretty simple, once the government began to guarantee student loans it was pretty easy to predict that universities had nothing to hold them back from raising tuition and fees to the moon, and would do so.

Now they’re just spending that money on figurative bridges to nowhere to justify the increases.

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18 minutes ago, tth2 said:

It's even worse at the college level.  For years I wondered where all the tuition increases were going, since all my friends in academia assured me they were still being paid a pittance.

Then we went on a tour of colleges last summer and the answer became apparent.  The colleges have been in an arms race to build newer and glitzier [fill in the blank].  Dorms that look like rooms at the Waldorf?  Check.  Palatial new labs?  Check.  25 different eating locations on campus, some 24-hour, catering to every possible type of dietary preference?  Check.  

Look at the data on administration growth.  Bloated administrative budgets/hiring seems to be a primary driver of increasing costs.  To a degree this has to do with heavy handed governmental regulation, but a lot of it is useless bureaucracy.  

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2 minutes ago, buttock said:

Look at the data on administration growth.  Bloated administrative budgets/hiring seems to be a primary driver of increasing costs.  To a degree this has to do with heavy handed governmental regulation, but a lot of it is useless bureaucracy.  

 

7 minutes ago, szavisca said:

Oh lordy trying so hard to not get sucked into a political rant but taxes are a political issue so... don’t forget your children’s tuition now has to pay for administrative staff salaries for positions that didn’t exist 20 years ago when I went to college.

Gotta pay your dean of diversity, your assistant deans of inclusion, etc.

Its pretty simple, once the government began to guarantee student loans it was pretty easy to predict that universities had nothing to hold them back from raising tuition and fees to the moon, and would do so.

Now they’re just spending that money on figurative bridges to nowhere to justify the increases.

The level of administrative bloat at college & universities is shocking and appalling.  There have been some high-profile articles written recently highlighting the problem (the University of Michigan has been highlighted as a prime example).  And, yes, massive public subsidies of higher education enabled much of this to happen.

“According to the Department of Education data, administrative positions at colleges and universities grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, which Bloomberg reported was 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions.

Even more strikingly, an analysis by a professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that, while the total number of full-time faculty members in the C.S.U. system grew from 11,614 to 12,019 between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators grew from 3,800 to 12,183 — a 221 percent increase.”

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6 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

 

The level of administrative bloat at college & universities is shocking and appalling.  There have been some high-profile articles written recently highlighting the problem (the University of Michigan has been highlighted as a prime example).  And, yes, massive public subsidies of higher education enabled much of this to happen.

“According to the Department of Education data, administrative positions at colleges and universities grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, which Bloomberg reported was 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions.

Even more strikingly, an analysis by a professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that, while the total number of full-time faculty members in the C.S.U. system grew from 11,614 to 12,019 between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators grew from 3,800 to 12,183 — a 221 percent increase.”

NMSU just hired a new president and chancellor, designating them as separate positions for the first time.  Total combined salaries are $950k/year.  The former pres/chancellor was earning $385k/year.  This in the setting of declining to hire new faculty nor provide raises that were funded/approved by state legislature.  

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21 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

 

The level of administrative bloat at college & universities is shocking and appalling.  There have been some high-profile articles written recently highlighting the problem (the University of Michigan has been highlighted as a prime example).  And, yes, massive public subsidies of higher education enabled much of this to happen.

“According to the Department of Education data, administrative positions at colleges and universities grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, which Bloomberg reported was 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions.

Even more strikingly, an analysis by a professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that, while the total number of full-time faculty members in the C.S.U. system grew from 11,614 to 12,019 between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators grew from 3,800 to 12,183 — a 221 percent increase.”

The same is true for Boulder County school district. More admin than teachers. One position that has almost 50 people is titled “observer”. WTF?  My son is almost 16 and has made is teachers and councilors heads explode by saying “not going to college, complete waste of time”. For him at this point it would be a waste so we don’t plan to force him. You don’t need a BS BS to make coffee and if you go in the trades, finding a good apprenticeship is the best route. This is from a guy with a PhD (not in ancient history of stupid studies). 

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9 hours ago, chromium said:

In Belgium we invest ca 5–6% of our gross national product in education.

A Belgian friend told me today that she's about to take a 3 week vacation in South America.  I was like, didn't you just take 3 international trips (Indonesia & NZ, two trips to Spain) already this summer?  Did you quit your job or something?  And she was like, 7 weeks of annual vacation, b****!! :whee: 

(she might have said it more diplomatically than that)

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1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

A Belgian friend told me today that she's about to take a 3 week vacation in South America.  I was like, didn't you just take 3 international trips (Indonesia & NZ, two trips to Spain) already this summer?  Did you quit your job or something?  And she was like, 7 weeks of annual vacation, b****!! :whee: 

(she might have said it more diplomatically than that)

Travel is educational.

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On 7/27/2018 at 7:44 AM, AnkurJ said:

An option. You can have a dealer represent you at auction and sell for 3%-4% over the sale price. It’s a small amount of savings but can add up.

What are the requirements for this for the dealer and the buyer?  What state does the dealer need to be in?  

Is there a tax benefit from having a resale license?

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1 hour ago, Peter L said:

What are the requirements for this for the dealer and the buyer?  What state does the dealer need to be in?  

Is there a tax benefit from having a resale license?

Resale license means you buy to resell. It can be at shows or online etc. It doesn’t matter where the dealer is. Basic agreement would be between the dealer and customer with the agreed percentage to be paid.

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Heritage just announced that other states are added to apply the sale tax: Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Wyoming effective on October 1st.

I live in Illinois and I am currently using PO Box in Wisconsin to save the money from tax but it sucks. I will keep PO Box to pay only 5.5% local tax to avoid 10% sale tax in my hometown.

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