We at Ulster Is Your Town Too would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our friends & neighbors the very best of the Holiday Season! It has been an interesting year and we expect next year to be even more interesting.
We would like to thank our loyal readers for keeping with the Holiday Spirit and refraining from base interaction. This blog is dedicated to offering our neighbors a venue for debate and will continue to do so in the new Year.
So, All the Best of the Season, Christmas, New Year, Kwanza, Chanukah, Feliz Navidad, Boun Natale etc., etc. so on and so on ......................Until Next Year!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Looking Ahead!
With a new year just on the horizon and the challenges it will bring we may have to look to one another a little more next year.
Towns, Counties and States will be feeling the economic pinch a little harder as cuts in services and employment continue. With little hope for existing revenue increases, government entities are beginning to look to new areas to tap for funds. These 'New Revenues' may not be tax increases, but make no mistake, they are fees for services for which we are already paying.
The City of New York, lead by the very creative Mayor Bloomberg, (a potential candidate for President in 2012), is the first in New York State's city entities to put forth new taxes disguised as 'Fees for Services Rendered'. In this particular case the City of New York will be charging for such services as automobile fires and accident clean up as well as EMS and Ambulance Services. It was not too long ago such services were considered part of the budget, that is paid for out of the many, many taxes which the city levies on it's residents and businesses as well as sales taxes and additional sin taxes. This is no longer the case and if successful, you can expect municipalities outside of NYC to begin charging for such services.
Mind you there is some legitimacy to Mayor Bloomberg's idea, costs related to non-residents auto accidents on the streets of NYC have thus far been the burden of City Residents, but this law goes further, a sliding scale of fees has been created to charge all accident victims for city services.
These fees will undoubtably be passed along to insurance companies on a no fault basis and then divided among it's customers finding it's way into the annual premiums as higher insurance cost.
The issue at hand is whether or not we allow our elected officials to have unbridled power over our pay checks and let them continue to pick the pockets of their citizenry whenever their excessive spending policy dims their re-election chances.
Don't be fooled by 0% tax levies, pay close attention to the actions of county and city executives as they will be attempting similar methods to raise revenue in difficult economic times.
What's next: Fees for school bus pick-ups, mail deliver charges and winter road maintenence?
Isn't that why we pay taxes in the first place?
Towns, Counties and States will be feeling the economic pinch a little harder as cuts in services and employment continue. With little hope for existing revenue increases, government entities are beginning to look to new areas to tap for funds. These 'New Revenues' may not be tax increases, but make no mistake, they are fees for services for which we are already paying.
The City of New York, lead by the very creative Mayor Bloomberg, (a potential candidate for President in 2012), is the first in New York State's city entities to put forth new taxes disguised as 'Fees for Services Rendered'. In this particular case the City of New York will be charging for such services as automobile fires and accident clean up as well as EMS and Ambulance Services. It was not too long ago such services were considered part of the budget, that is paid for out of the many, many taxes which the city levies on it's residents and businesses as well as sales taxes and additional sin taxes. This is no longer the case and if successful, you can expect municipalities outside of NYC to begin charging for such services.
Mind you there is some legitimacy to Mayor Bloomberg's idea, costs related to non-residents auto accidents on the streets of NYC have thus far been the burden of City Residents, but this law goes further, a sliding scale of fees has been created to charge all accident victims for city services.
These fees will undoubtably be passed along to insurance companies on a no fault basis and then divided among it's customers finding it's way into the annual premiums as higher insurance cost.
The issue at hand is whether or not we allow our elected officials to have unbridled power over our pay checks and let them continue to pick the pockets of their citizenry whenever their excessive spending policy dims their re-election chances.
Don't be fooled by 0% tax levies, pay close attention to the actions of county and city executives as they will be attempting similar methods to raise revenue in difficult economic times.
What's next: Fees for school bus pick-ups, mail deliver charges and winter road maintenence?
Isn't that why we pay taxes in the first place?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
