[Outside opposition is another concern. Many privacy groups and other advocacy groups worry about the impact this trend could have on citizens.] Revenue departments have many, many more sweeping powers than any other agency or private collections firm would have under fair debt collection laws, ... So now what you'll have is revenue agents who are used to using those broad powers going after people who owe court fines or student loans. Some people might think this is great, but if you start unleashing the power of the government on those people, they might actually begin to chafe at such practices. I don't think it's a good idea. |
[To appeal your assessment you will need to do some research and possibly hire an appraiser, but you do not need a lawyer. The appeal process is set up for individuals. It is not a court of law.] You can determine whether you have a case in the space of an afternoon, ... And your chances for success are pretty good; I'd say as much as 50 percent. |
An LCD TV or a plasma TV might be a nice thing to have, but there are plenty of high-resolution televisions you can get for under $1, 000. |
Drivers already pay roughly $30 billion a year in federal gasoline taxes; that ought to be enough to at least give them a decent federal Interstate highway system with maintenance costs. |
From our standpoint, this is not a top fiscal issue. |
How are people going to be compensated when, inevitably, mistakes are made? |
I'm sure that state and local officials, given enough time, will come up with a sky-is-falling study saying that if they're not allowed to tax this, they'll lose a trillion dollars a year. |
If House and Senate leaders fail to establish fiscal discipline on the (emergency) spending bill, they will probably have lost their last, best chance at restoring Congress' credibility on deficit spending issues in this election year. |
If it doesn't meet the technical term of earmark, it would probably meet the public idea of one. |
Is the money really necessary to fund some of these projects, and is the money really going to communities in need? On both scores, the answer is often no. Thirty years and $100 billion is enough of a test to say this program is a disaster. Pull the plug. |
It was felt that there had to be inducements |
Most people with mortgages have their taxes automatically escrowed and are less likely to question their taxes, ... You find that the people who take a hard look at their assessment are older home owners who have paid off their mortgage or people who are building a home. |
No spending reduction is easy, otherwise they would have been done a long time ago. |
Obviously we need to start considering limits on this sort of taxation. |
Obviously, many homeowners expected an increase due to higher property values. But many homeowners have had serious sticker shock. |