The beginning of unigov, ugh. When I sell my house to get away from Toledo’s taxation, I will be sure to move someplace safely outside of Lucas County.
posted by mike2004 at 07:20 A.M. EST on Wed Feb 02, 2005 #
You know, this "too much tax" theme is so common amongst my talks with Toledoan friends, that I'm starting to wonder how severe Toledo's population loss will get (as people "vote with their feet"). I note in balance that some of the people I know couldn't afford to leave Toledo to save their lives, and others think that moving away from family is the next best thing to slitting their own throats ... but still.
posted by Guest at 02:44 A.M. EST on Sun Feb 06, 2005 #
It is not just too much tax; the other half of the problem is the services you receive in return for your hard earned tax dollars. Toledoans pay the highest income tax rate in the area and receive a police department that takes 4 hours to show up. I personally am paying almost $100.00 a month in property taxes on a house in fair to poor condition in a neighborhood that is getting blighted for a school system that basically sucks.
The root cause of this problem is the live for the moment mentality that the local government is infected with (the state and federal governments have the same issues, which I could comment on but it would be outside the topic of this article). Jack Ford has complained about the previous administration (Carty) leaving his administration with millions of dollars in obligations, which, while I dislike mayor Ford, it is a legitimate complaint. One would think that Jack Ford, upset at having to pay the obligations his administration is stuck with, would be sure not to burden a future administration. However he continues to spend, spend, and spend. He says he will worry about 2006 when it gets here. If Jack Ford would concern himself with how he is spending money in 2005, paying the bills in 2006 would be a whole lot easier.
posted by mike2004 at 09:20 A.M. EST on Sun Feb 06, 2005 #
Well, Mike, what shall we do about it? Heck, what CAN we do about it?
Vote? Every time I go to the polls, I find the First Law of Toledo Elections in action:
Law #1: Toledo's electorate is stupid.
Corollary #A: If an issue is a bad idea, it will pass by a 2-to-1 majority.
Corollary #B: If an issue is a completely terrible idea, it will pass by a simple majority.
Pardon me for saying so, but Toledoans constantly reward bad politicians with renewed terms, renewed taxes, and newer taxes laid on top of new taxes. It's no accident that bankruptcies are so high in Lucas County ... since a significant electoral majority of Toledoans apparently think that you can keep laying on taxes and spending said revenue foolishly since there will always be another extension of credit, another successful levy, and another way to put off the day of fiscal reckoning (as Ford and the council did in the police/fire/trash fiasco recently).
And in wholesale support of these results, too many Toledoans simply don't vote, and by my anecdotal evidence, there is significant dissent amongst their ranks. Theirs is the ability to toss out the truly crazy bas'ards like Carty, and the truly elitist politicos like Ford. But they don't vote. Heck, the truth be told, they tend to spend their lives in Toledo, making the straightest and fewest possible lines between work, home, and a small set of stores. They form the most insular, provincial, frankly sociopathic society I have ever seen up close and personal.
The best thing for Toledo now is the inevitable slide into state receivership. With Ford or Carty in office, combined with the usual suspects upon the city council, we can well achieve this. The man who ran Ragtime Rick's might well understand the concept of "don't spend more than your income", but he'll never get elected in Toledo on a platform plank like that.
posted by Guest at 06:35 P.M. EST on Sun Feb 06, 2005 #
Syndicate ToledoTalk
