You call those property taxes?
Paul Smith thinks his property taxes in New Castle County are too high.
From my perspective, New Castle County taxes are downright amusing, amounting to just a bit more than the tip I give the mailman each Christmas.
You need to live, or have lived, in New Jersey, to appreciate property taxes. Now we lived in a perfectly adequate house in Passaic County. You might even call it a nice house, although it needed new windows and a furnace. It was not a spectacular house, or an extremely nice house, just a house.
For the privilege of living in said house, we paid more than $9,000 in property taxes. This was okay while I was working, but when I retired I earned about half of what I had formerly been paid. It appeared that I would have to get another full-time job and maybe some part-time work to continue to live in this perfectly adequate house, which would shortly need new windows and a new furnace. (The roof was pretty old too.)
So I figured out that if we moved to Delaware we would save enough to pay for me and Mr Charm to go to Europe every year on a nice tour. I thought Sicily would be nice, for a start.
We moved, and I'm glad. At least the bills and the income match each month. In other words, I don't run out of money before I run out of month, most of the time.
As for Sicily, I haven't been there yet. But I have hopes.
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You might be surprised to hear that our property taxes in Austin match those of your former NJ abode. But, then, we live in a neighborhood with the best public schools in the district. Fortunately, if I can survive two more years, I will be old enough to have the tax frozen at whatever amount it is then until we sell. Then, once No. 1 son has graduated from high school, we can gratefully move somewhere cheaper.
My parents live in northern NJ. Their entire property, including the house, could fit in my backyard. They pay $11,000 a year in taxes.
I rest my case.
Anyone who lives in NJ and doesn't have to is losing a lot of money and paying a lot for some mediocre services.
People are wising up and moving out.
I dare you to look at my taxes in Lake County Illinois. For the modest price of 15k a year I can live in a moderate house with falling public schools and a town that wants to consign itself to the dust heap.
Anon: You win, hands down.
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