My Shoulder Will Have to Wait

Guest Post by Eric Peters

I dislocated  – or tore – something in my shoulder a few months ago and would very much like to get it fixed. Unfortunately for me, I have to pay the government – again – and that means I can’t afford to pay a doctor.

In about two weeks, I must send the county $841.50 – half the yearly “rent” I am obliged to pay – forever – in order to be allowed to continue living in the house I paid off 15 years ago.

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Property taxes are rising: Here’s who pays the most

But, but, but, there’s no inflation I’ve been told by Federal Reserve douchebags.

Via MSN

Image result for funny property taxes soaring

In 2018, property taxes on the nation’s 87 million U.S. single-family homes rose 4 percent to $293.4 billion, reaching an average of $3,498 per home, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, which runs a property database.

Property taxes have been a hot-button issue of late because of a $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes that was imposed as part of the Republican-led tax overhaul. Some homeowners in high-tax states have said the so-called SALT deduction cap means they owe the IRS this year, instead of getting refunds they received in previous years.

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Who Runs Bartertown?

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Property taxes make it hard to own property. Impossible, actually – which is exactly the point of property taxes.

They aren’t merely a means of mulcting us, as other taxes (such as the income tax) are. Property taxes are the means of assuring that we never truly own anything by making us pay for the thing in perpetuity.

The true owners of the thing in question being those who collect this rent in perpetuity.

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US Property Tax Comparison by State

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

US Tax Ranking by StateThe latest report on property tax comparisons within the USA has been released. A report from Attom Data shows just how nuts things are becoming with regard to taxes. Property taxes have become really insane in the North. The average annual property tax bill in Alabama in 2016 was $776 compared to the the highest average is New Jersey where it stands at $8,477.

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One Thing at a Time

Guest Post by Eric Peters

If you’ve ever restored an old car or a motorcycle – a basket case that needs everything – you know the importance of focusing on one thing at a time. Because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the totality of the mess.kaw_50_ontruck

The last bike I restored (a ’75 Kawasaki S1 triple) I started with just the frame. I had the entire bike completely disassembled, the parts laid out like the famous skeleton of Lucy, the oldest semi-complete fossil of a distant ancestor of humanity yet found.

Looking at all those rusty, worn out grease-caked parts, the peeling chrome and  pitted metal, made it hard to imagine the “like new” bike I hoped to have at the end of the odyssey.

Which is what makes it hard to even begin.

Which makes it easy to give up.

Our situation, politically, is a lot like this. So much needs fixing, so much is broken, it’s easy to just give up and resign ourselves to the hopelessness of it all.

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