<p>The problem with higher sales tax is that you are often offered to pay no sales tax if you pay cash. At least at smaller businesses that was my experience with a 10% sales tax.</p>
<p>I agree. I would have a low sales tax but spread it across a wider base. There are estimates that only about 80% of the sales tax collected is paid to the State.</p>
<p>Since this thread has morphed off-topic into property tax comparisons, it’s being moved to the Parents Cafe.</p>
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<p>This exists in areas with much lower sales taxes like the Boston area. </p>
<p>Several businesses I patronized in that area offered not only no sales tax, but also reduced the sticker price of certain items if I paid in cash. No problem. </p>
<p>And then there are sales tax holidays for certain items to encourage consumer spending as done in NY and NJ.</p>
<p>Cash versus their credit card fees- if they record the sale legally, they still save. But don’t count on it. I think my first question would be ^ what sort of businesses? Some gas stations, what else?</p>
<p>Many times the stores that say pay cash and we will not charge the tax pay the tax themselves. They just say that to the customer to get the sale.</p>
<p>Yes I know there are times that they also do not ring up the sale and just pocket the cash.</p>
<p>No, I don’t buy much stuff, dstark, maybe a car every blue moon. A 20 percent sales tax wouldn’t bug me at all, as I hate shopping anyways. Though I’m sure some would hate it.</p>
<p>Just asked girlfriend (the accountant of our pair), and our property tax bill for the last year was about $5700 for a 1400 square foot house on 1/5 of an acre. Worst schools in the area. If you go to any of the surrounding towns our property would probably go for about double its current price. Sales tax is a wonderful 9% on everything except for food.</p>
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<p>Computer/electronic technology, hardware/appliance, clothing, etc.</p>
<p>Tom,</p>
<p>This article gives a quick summary of the problem.</p>
<p>[Under</a> New York 2% tax cap, protected pensions will cause even more cuts to student services | Cost of College](<a href=“http://costofcollege.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/12/28/under-new-york-2-tax-cap-protected-pensions-will-cause-even-more-cuts-to-student-services/]Under”>Under New York 2% tax cap, protected pensions will cause even more cuts to student services | Cost of College)</p>
<p>Since property taxes are so high in NY we have a tax cap law which limits the budget increase for a given year. </p>
<p>Many here have appealed their property taxes when house prices dropped. The state has also put in place another law which does not allow a property tax appeal to reduce the STAR component by more than 2%. This is not fair because if you win your appeal you will still be over assessed.</p>
<p><a href=“http://governor.ny.gov/citizenconnects/?q=reforminggovernment/1[/url]”>http://governor.ny.gov/citizenconnects/?q=reforminggovernment/1</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/orpts/star_summaryfaqs.pdf[/url]”>http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/orpts/star_summaryfaqs.pdf</a></p>
<p>In the first article I pasted a part of the article which speaks to part of the pension problem.</p>
<p>A key factor is that 86 percent of all teachers and administrators statewide are in Tier 4 of the pension system, meaning that they contribute 3 percent of their salary to the system for only 10 years and nothing thereafter. Tiers 5 and 6, created since 2009, require ongoing employee contributions but currently include only 8 percent of all members.</p>
<p>Yes I am aware of NY’s pension rules. NY still remains one of the best funded pensions in the country even with limited contributions from the employees. It truly shows what the issue is in NJ which has a higher employee contribution rate, less generous benefits and is in a much less stable funding range.</p>
<p>It also perfectly illustrates my point that you can not broad brush “all teachers etc” as having too generous pensions since the plans vary widely all across the country. In fact I will repeat again that in NJ there is zero property taxes that go to teachers pensions and yet the pension was used to bash teachers about property taxes.</p>
<p>My original post only spoke to NY state property taxes. The article specifically speaks to the problem that teacher pension costs are eating up the school budget. Tier 4 teachers only contribute 3% of their salary for only 10 yrs to receive a very generous pension benefit. We the tax payers must fund the difference through property taxes. As pension costs bite into the school budget student services are getting cut.</p>
<p>I have problem with this scenario. I personally feel that pensions should go out the window for everyone, not just teachers. Let everyone save for their retirement through a 401k/c vehicle.</p>
<p>The State of Rhode Island previously ran a study which indicated switching employees to a 401k will be more costly for a minimum of 15-20 years. There is no politician on earth that ever decides to take on an expense for lower costs that many years out. Take into account that switching to a 401k takes a significant sum of funds out of their hands (they use the pension funds to play games with their budgets) and the switch is unlikely.</p>
<p>By the way I would happily switch to a 401k if I was either given the true value for my contributions, the State match and the fair rate of return for the past 34 years. I would even happily switch to a 401k if you stopped my pension where it is now and moved me to the Alternative Benefit plan NJ offers now which is a 401k type paln. The employee contributes 5% of their pay ( I currently contribute 7%) and the State contributes 8%. There are no complaints about that fund in NJ. Put all teachers into it immediately. Right now it is only available for employees in Higher Education.</p>
<p>I realize the system will never change but it is a good idea. Nobody could complain if everybody had to save via a 401k/c plan no employer match. I would consider a match if the match across the board was the same for everyone in all industries. Then there would be no complaints.</p>
<p>wow, speaking of property taxes, (Did anyone reference this map yet?)</p>
<p>This map shows property taxes and home values AND property taxes as a % of home value for every county in the U.S. The map lets you hover your mouse over it and see those numbers for any county in the U.S. Pretty interesting. Don’t just look at the colors, use your mouse!</p>
<p>[Map:</a> Property Taxes in Your County | Brookings Institution](<a href=“http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2013/county-property-taxes-map?fb_action_ids=10202540528660274&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[1408460072724857]&action_type_map=[“og.recommends”]&action_ref_map=[]]Map:”>http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2013/county-property-taxes-map?fb_action_ids=10202540528660274&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[1408460072724857]&action_type_map=[“og.recommends”]&action_ref_map=[])</p>
<p>^Yes, I saw that map. It gives a good general idea of percent of house value for a given county. Counties are quite large so variation higher and lower than the average within one county can be significant.</p>
<p>Indeed. We live in Litchfield County CT. I can assure you, our taxes are on the low side, and our services are on the high side. We are slightly less rural and more suburban than many of the other Litchfield County towns.</p>
<p>NJres - thanks for providing that link! I knew that our taxes were high, but had no idea we were ranked #15 in the country. Did not know we had the highest taxes of all the Chicago collar counties.</p>