There are some things in life that become instantly clear, others that take time to develop. Years ago you sent film off to be developed and retrieved your pictures days or weeks later, then came self-developing film and one hour photo shops, today we have smart phones that can capture an image and send it around the globe in seconds. Today was one those instant developing thoughts, not something that took weeks, an hour, or even two minutes like a Polaroid, but instantly was clear ready to share.
My wife has expressed agitation to me for a habit I have of approximating numbers not that I do it but that I do it all the time and seem to be too fast to follow sometimes. There are lots of moments in my life where I need to know fairly quickly if a number makes sense, not if it is exactly right but “does it make sense?”. What follows is not exact math but the thought process that went through my mind in a single instantly developing thought today at our local County Treasurer’s office.
Two evenings ago I was driving down main street and there was a 1966 Ford Falcon parked with a for sale sign, 30 minutes after seeing the sign I was the new owner of a $1700, 46 year old antique. It would be cheap transportation or an expensive hobby depending on how you value such a purchase, or so I thought. Yesterday I bought insurance. Today I set in the County Treasurer’s office to buy the tag. The check at the tag office was $218.10 and included the following: sales tax, registration, title fee, reflectorized plate fee, DMV Modernization fee, County Service fee and County Sales Tax Collection fee (yes I paid 50 cents to allow them the privilege of collecting money from me)
$218.10 for a $1700 cheap car… nearly 13% is where my quick mind raced, trying to justify the number. Then it raced to the following estimates assuming a 35% tax rate (Fed and State income tax plus Social Security and Medicare) I have to earn nearly $2950 just to park the car in my driveway. There is another nearly $200 tax due on the fuel I will use in this car over the next year, to drive that car I need a state issued drivers license (another tax) and the state require insurance. Now I must earn approximately $3750 to own a $1700 car. I haven’t bought tires, or any other type of maintenance…which also will be taxed. My mind says there are many other hidden taxes that drive up the amount I must earn but I quickly came to the estimate that to buy a $1700 car I have to earn nearly $4000 and hope that like the Israelites wandering the desert that nothing wears out.
So what was the thing that became so clear to me today?
I live in a red state, one that in all likelihood will vote Republican next Tuesday. Today in an instant I knew why. For you see right next door to the County Treasurer’s office, less than 20 feet from where I discovered that my $1700 cheap form of transportation will actually require me to earn an estimated (using very quick math) 4 grand, right next to the office where I paid for an itemized list of fees including 50 cents for a “reflectorized tag”, right next door to where I discovered that these numbers are not making sense, right next door was a place where my opinion counted, a polling booth, and more importantly it was open for early voting.
An itemized tax bill in your hand, a lighter wallet in your pocket, and a voting booth just steps away …very poor marketing and product placement if you are selling a Democrat platform.
Proudly wearing an “I voted Today” sticker
David
Cheaper than paving the roads yourself, perhaps? Especially in a rural community where, if you were relying on local contributions only, you might only be able to afford dirt roads. And those street signs and lights are helpful too (though maybe not entirely necessary.) Maybe these contributions ought to scale to the purchase price, but they don't ALL contribute to such things as shiny tags. Let's also not forget that Kansas takes more than it gives, when looking at federal taxes. This, I guess, is due to it being a rural state. Given that Ulysses is in a rural county of a mixed-rural-urban state, I would guess that the same could be said for the county Ulysses is in. (Stevens?) So, be careful what you wish for, don't bite the hand that feeds you, etc…
Last I checked, given the last 12 years, both parties are more than willing to spend all of our money. So I hope you "wasted" that vote on a third party candidate, as I intend to.
And some quick numbers: Given that it takes about $406,000/mi. to pave roads (worldbank.org) and Ulysses' population of about 6161 (wolframalpha.com), if everyone purchased a car in a similar manner, that would bring in enough revenue to pave ~34.6 miles of road. Given that Ulysses has roughly 40.2 miles of paved road (plus a little bit for the portion south of HW 160 that I didn't bother to add up), that's almost 6 miles that would need to go unpaved. Now, that's not bad. But, to finish all of the roads, people would need to keep buying cars. Sure you could get the six miles of the saved taxes on gas alone, perhaps, but you'll want to go places. Like Johnson City. But of course, they only have a 1/4th the population of Ulysses, so you might have to pave a little bit further than halfway to finish the job. But then that's what we do when we ask everyone to chip in isn't it? To make sure that all towns, regardless of their size, have the necessary paved roads in and betweens towns.
Oh, and you'd have to do without street lights/signs for a while. But that might not be too bad (http://goo.gl/krtzV).
totally understand that there are things that collectively we can do better, highways being one of them. But very seldom have I stopped and truly thought how much I have to earn to own something because of how we are taxed; earning money, spending money, and in licensing us to use the items we buy ….. makes those bicycles look cheap.
On to voting "wasted" my vote in one slot, the rest were unopposed. 🙁
Flat tax ftw. I can still remember paying the sales tax on the Escape. It will definitely give me pause the next time we go car shopping.
And what a sweet deal. I'd be much better at my job if I knew that no one else was eligible for it… :/ Although, I'm sure they were opposed in a primary (just guessing.)