Plan would let seniors work to pay taxes

[stephanie]

Dear me...

By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer
32 minutes ago

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh.

Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either.

The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.

"People shouldn't have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends," said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner.

He envisions retired doctors mentoring schoolchildren, retired accountants helping with the town's finances, retired lawyers offering their services for a discount. But there are plenty of less-skilled jobs that need doing, he said.

"It's not like we're going to see grandma running the snowplow," he said. "There are lots of things people can do for the town and it wouldn't cost us that much to pay them."

The proposal has caused a stir in Greenburgh, a town of 90,000 in Westchester County, which has the nation's third-highest homeowner property taxes. The plan would be unusual if not unique in New York, but similar programs are considered successes in Colorado, Massachusetts, South Carolina and elsewhere.

Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes — perhaps $2,000 to the town — and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills.

Talking to Feiner last week at the town senior center, she said, "I would work as long as it was a job where I could sit."

"You could be a receptionist!" Feiner said. "You could greet people right here, when they come in."

"That I would love," Davison said.

Scott Parkin, spokesman for the National Council on Aging, said the program sounded interesting, as long as it wasn't limited to menial work. "It's certainly in line with what we stand for, keeping seniors involved in work or volunteering as a part of healthy aging," he said.


Snip:
Feiner is suggesting creating about 25 slots for seniors and letting them work off $500 or so a year. His proposal faces some obstacles. If the wages earned are to be tax-free and directly credited to the property tax bill, the state Legislature would have to approve. In addition, unions would have to be convinced that the program is no threat to their members' job security.

read the rest..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071225/...king_off_taxes

[JohnDoe]

Property taxes are the absolute worst taxes there are in the USA, and should be abolished. I would rather see an income tax or even a sales tax before property taxes....precisely because of the reason in the story above....

And this town can do something other than making a 76 year old go to work for $7 bucks an hour.

As example, Maine has a safety net, where one's property tax can not be more than 4% of your annual income, if it is, then they credit you. There is a cap at $80 k for a couple's income to qualify, but it does cover everyone, not just seniors....of which Matt and I are greatful for and did qualify for a rebate on our property taxes which are $1800 dollars a year. Since I am retired and matt did not find a job until about half the year was over this year, it should come to about a thousand dollar rebate for them. YAHOO! This should prevent any senior on a limited income from going broke.

Florida also has some sort of safety net in their property tax structure also....I think that once you buy your home, your property taxes can not go up more than 2% or so a year, so if there is a huge boom in home prices, you won't be stuck paying more in taxes each year compared with the assessed value of your home. This also can help seniors keep their homes.

In massachusetts, the big city near where we lived passed a law that capped what seniors would have to pay in property taxes at $2800 a year.....ours were near $3600 a year when we lived there.

New York needs to do something for these seniors that is more than allowing them to work off $500 of this lady's $12000 a year that she is having to pay. That is utterly ridiculous imo.

As I have said, property taxes are absolutely the worst kind of taxes that there are in the country.....

jd

[nevadamedic]

Property taxes are the absolute worst taxes there are in the USA, and should be abolished. I would rather see an income tax or even a sales tax before property taxes....precisely because of the reason in the story above....

And this town can do something other than making a 76 year old go to work for $7 bucks an hour.

As example, Maine has a safety net, where one's property tax can not be more than 4% of your annual income, if it is, then they credit you. There is a cap at $80 k for a couple's income to qualify, but it does cover everyone, not just seniors....of which Matt and I are greatful for and did qualify for a rebate on our property taxes which are $1800 dollars a year. Since I am retired and matt did not find a job until about half the year was over this year, it should come to about a thousand dollar rebate for them. YAHOO! This should prevent any senior on a limited income from going broke.

Florida also has some sort of safety net in their property tax structure also....I think that once you buy your home, your property taxes can not go up more than 2% or so a year, so if there is a huge boom in home prices, you won't be stuck paying more in taxes each year compared with the assessed value of your home. This also can help seniors keep their homes.

In massachusetts, the big city near where we lived passed a law that capped what seniors would have to pay in property taxes at $2800 a year.....ours were near $3600 a year when we lived there.

New York needs to do something for these seniors that is more than allowing them to work off $500 of this lady's $12000 a year that she is having to pay. That is utterly ridiculous imo.

As I have said, property taxes are absolutely the worst kind of taxes that there are in the country.....

jd

Wow, you might lose your Democratic Decoder Ring for talking bad about any tax or tax increase or wanting to do away with a tax all together.

[JohnDoe]

Wow, you might lose your Democratic Decoder Ring for talking bad about any tax or tax increase or wanting to do away with a tax all together.

I'm a moderate, a Blue Dog Democrat, a fiscal conservative.....on all political tests it rates me in the middle...ever so slightly to the right the last time I took one, a centrist for the most part.

Basically a man (a woman) without a home.....

jd

[nevadamedic]

I'm a moderate, a Blue Dog Democrat, a fiscal conservative.....on all political tests it rates me in the middle...ever so slightly to the right the last time I took one, a centrist for the most part.

Basically a man (a woman) without a home.....

jd

Do you need a home? Well at least the times when your a woman?

[red states rule]

Property taxes are the absolute worst taxes there are in the USA, and should be abolished. I would rather see an income tax or even a sales tax before property taxes....precisely because of the reason in the story above....

And this town can do something other than making a 76 year old go to work for $7 bucks an hour.

As example, Maine has a safety net, where one's property tax can not be more than 4% of your annual income, if it is, then they credit you. There is a cap at $80 k for a couple's income to qualify, but it does cover everyone, not just seniors....of which Matt and I are greatful for and did qualify for a rebate on our property taxes which are $1800 dollars a year. Since I am retired and matt did not find a job until about half the year was over this year, it should come to about a thousand dollar rebate for them. YAHOO! This should prevent any senior on a limited income from going broke.

Florida also has some sort of safety net in their property tax structure also....I think that once you buy your home, your property taxes can not go up more than 2% or so a year, so if there is a huge boom in home prices, you won't be stuck paying more in taxes each year compared with the assessed value of your home. This also can help seniors keep their homes.

In massachusetts, the big city near where we lived passed a law that capped what seniors would have to pay in property taxes at $2800 a year.....ours were near $3600 a year when we lived there.

New York needs to do something for these seniors that is more than allowing them to work off $500 of this lady's $12000 a year that she is having to pay. That is utterly ridiculous imo.

As I have said, property taxes are absolutely the worst kind of taxes that there are in the country.....

jd

So when you have to pay the tax - it is unfair? JD, you are paying your fair share when you pay taxes - that is the classic line from libs

Or is it, you only want other people to pay higher taxes - and not ypu?

[JohnDoe]

So when you have to pay the tax - it is unfair? JD, you are paying your fair share when you pay taxes - that is the classic line from libs

Or is it, you only want other people to pay higher taxes - and not ypu?

I want to stop paying the 10 billion a month in Iraq, then all of us can have a tax cut or we can start paying off the national debt that these drunken sailors spent the 6 years in absolute full control of the purse strings.

And I do NOT believe that people that are making ends meet should have to pay more in taxes than they do already....that's the middle class. I do believe that people like the Clinton's, the Gates, the Buffets, the Heinz Kerrys, the Hiltons should NOT GET further tax cuts so that they end up paying less as a percentage of their income than YOU have to pay as a percentage of your income in taxes.... it is immoral....imho.

Do you think that this woman in the article should have to pay more in property tax than she has to pay now, the $12k a year? Do you want to see people that have worked all their lives and paid off their mortgages lose their homes so that you can give the wealthiest in our country even MORE in tax cuts than what they have gotten in tax cuts under Bush? I don't.

jd

[red states rule]

I want to stop paying the 10 billion a month in Iraq, then all of us can have a tax cut or we can start paying off the national debt that these drunken sailors spent the 6 years in absolute full control of the purse strings.

And I do NOT believe that people that are making ends meet should have to pay more in taxes than they do already....that's the middle class. I do believe that people like the Clinton's, the Gates, the Buffets, the Heinz Kerrys, the Hiltons should NOT GET further tax cuts so that they end up paying less as a percentage of their income than YOU have to pay as a percentage of your income in taxes.... it is immoral....imho.

Do you think that this woman in the article should have to pay more in property than she has to pay now, the $12k a year? Do you want to see people that have worked all their lives and paid off their mortgages lose their homes so that you can give the wealthiest in our country even MORE in tax cuts than what they have gotten in tax cuts under Bush? I don't.

jd

JD -the money we are spending in Iraq is keeping us safe - no more attacks on US soil since 9-11. If we are hit again it will cost alot more. 9-11 was a $1 trilion hit in our economy

JD, the people you talk about already pay the majority of taxes. The top 1% pay 36% of Federal income taxes while earning 18% of the money. When you add on state and local taxes, SS taxes and property taxes - they can easily pay more the 50% of their income in taxes. But that does not seem to be enough for you

Since they pay the most in taxes, when tax cuts are passed who the hell do think gets the tax cut?

[actsnoblemartin]

excellent excellent excelent, its high way robbery

Property taxes are the absolute worst taxes there are in the USA, and should be abolished. I would rather see an income tax or even a sales tax before property taxes....precisely because of the reason in the story above....

And this town can do something other than making a 76 year old go to work for $7 bucks an hour.

As example, Maine has a safety net, where one's property tax can not be more than 4% of your annual income, if it is, then they credit you. There is a cap at $80 k for a couple's income to qualify, but it does cover everyone, not just seniors....of which Matt and I are greatful for and did qualify for a rebate on our property taxes which are $1800 dollars a year. Since I am retired and matt did not find a job until about half the year was over this year, it should come to about a thousand dollar rebate for them. YAHOO! This should prevent any senior on a limited income from going broke.

Florida also has some sort of safety net in their property tax structure also....I think that once you buy your home, your property taxes can not go up more than 2% or so a year, so if there is a huge boom in home prices, you won't be stuck paying more in taxes each year compared with the assessed value of your home. This also can help seniors keep their homes.

In massachusetts, the big city near where we lived passed a law that capped what seniors would have to pay in property taxes at $2800 a year.....ours were near $3600 a year when we lived there.

New York needs to do something for these seniors that is more than allowing them to work off $500 of this lady's $12000 a year that she is having to pay. That is utterly ridiculous imo.

As I have said, property taxes are absolutely the worst kind of taxes that there are in the country.....

jd

[red states rule]

excellent excellent excelent, its high way robbery

and she is happy as long as she is not one of the people who have to fork over the money

[PostmodernProphet]

someone needs to point out to this guy that he is an f....ing idiot......typical liberal.....make a lot of noise about wanting to help, then come up with a proposal that accomplishes absolutely nothing to solve the problem......

Feiner is suggesting creating about 25 slots for seniors and letting them work off $500 or so a year

[quote]

Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes

[red states rule]

[QUOTE=PostmodernProphet;175503]someone needs to point out to this guy that he is an f....ing idiot......typical liberal.....make a lot of noise about wanting to help, then come up with a proposal that accomplishes absolutely nothing to solve the problem......






When do libs ever solve a problem? They would rather have an issue then a solution

The last thing libs want is for the poor to stop being poor

[actsnoblemartin]

well said and very true

[QUOTE=red states rule;175507]

someone needs to point out to this guy that he is an f....ing idiot......typical liberal.....make a lot of noise about wanting to help, then come up with a proposal that accomplishes absolutely nothing to solve the problem......






When do libs ever solve a problem? They would rather have an issue then a solution

The last thing libs want is for the poor to stop being poor

[red states rule]

[QUOTE=actsnoblemartin;175509]well said and very true



Libs love to spend OPM - other peoples money

[chesswarsnow]

Sorry bout that,

1. But I contend that the old women used to earn a high rate of money.
2. But,.........
3. She got old.
4. Anyone who pays out 1 k a month in property taxes, was a high income earner.
5. Now after they earned the money to buy that high end house, now they have to pay through the nose to keep it.
6. Society itself says, she doesn't deserve to have that house, so the taxes will bleed her of it.
7. She will die penniless, like every street bum.
8. That is indeed a sad fact of life, being a rich American or a poor bum American.
9. There is no safety net for the old.
10. An old widow in a castle of a house, or old bum living in a dumpster reality.

Regards,
SirJamesofTexas