I seem to be obsessed with politics these days.
I for one have been a little perplexed at the debate over Voter ID laws for several reasons. For one, I would think that it would be a nonpartisan issue. Also, I have been perplexed that the reporting on these laws seems biased. You might object to that conclusion but every article I have seen about this issue seems to make some sort of claim that some group is trying to deny another group its right to vote. You may say that is exactly what is happening, but with the exact same set of facts, another valid conclusion is that one group opposes any reasonable measures to prevent voter fraud. And I have NOT seen that being written.
If you haven't already left in a huff, I propose the following thought experiment.
For the sake of argument, suppose I was a zealous supporter of one candidate or party and suppose that this zeal overcame my usual sense of decorum and led me to believe that victory was really more important than another person's right to vote. If I want more votes for my candidate, I could perhaps go to the graveyards and try to register deceased citizens and vote under their names. OR even more effectively, I could vote under the names of people I know support the other candidate! The second option allows a double benefit, so I choose that option.
I get up early and go to the voting place of a friend I know who supports the other party and cast his vote for my candidate. No one is allowed to ask me for a voter ID. I simply promise that is who I am.
Now, my friend later goes to the same poll and tries to sign in for his vote. He however, is turned away because, according to their records he has already voted. He has an ID and shows the poll workers the ID. Still they can't let him vote because he has already voted. He swears that is not him but how are they to know for sure? The vote is already cast and there is no guarantee that this person is simply trying to vote twice.
Here is my question - Would you argue that the state has an obligation to protect my friend's right to vote? .....
(pausing here for you to think on this a little)
If so, how would you propose the state accomplish this. If they are not allowed to check ID's, I don't think they can.
Another way to look at this is to say that it is more important to protect the rights to vote of those of one group than another. But if that is the case, who gets to decide which group should have more say?
I cannot support this idea. In my opinion, if one voter shows up with a valid ID identifying himself as who he claims to be and another shows up without an ID, the person with the ID should clearly get to be the one who votes. Also, if we are going to continue to be a democracy, I don't think we can start claiming that one person's vote is more important than another's.
I know it is not perfect, but I do think it is reasonable. It is not as though people don't know in advance and have plenty of time to get things in order before Election Day.
Just my opinion. Thanks for reading and I promise that I will do some more on real estate. Lately I've just had politics on my mind.
Have a great day.
David
David W. McCoy
Associate Broker
Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate
10444 Bluegrass Pkwy
Louisville, KY 40299
BTW - I am sure that my managing broker would appreciate me clarifying that the opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate, its brokers, agents or employees (other than me, of course). If you have another opinion, you are free to express it in the comments. You are not free however, to make inappropriate, obscene or hateful comments. Should I see any such comments, I will exercise my right to delete these.
ALSO - If you would like an opinion regarding real estate, I would love to help. I am a broker licensed in Indiana and Kentucky and I specialize in Commercial Real Estate. I work with sellers and buyers, landlords and tenants, and investors. I handle Office, Industrial, Land, Retail and Investment properties. Heck, I can even set you up if you need help with residential real estate. In any case, give me a call or send me an e-mail. I would love to help.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Fair Taxes
Well I've been sitting on my hands and biting my tongue for about 3 months and finally I decided to weigh in.
We hear a lot from our President and in his campaign about instituting fairness in taxation. Some of my young friends have expressed nearly rabid opinions to me about how unfair things are. As I mentioned in a previous post, fairness is a difficult thing to define or measure. So instead of doing that, let's have a simple case study - me.
It is no secret that the last several years have been extraordinarily difficult for real estate. Homeowners, real estate brokers, builders, people in the construction industries have all suffered tremendously in this economy. I for one have been barely scraping by for the last 4 years. My job has no base salary. I am only paid if there is a lease or sale by commission only and there is no guaranteed minimum wage.
During that period of time, I never recieved any government assistance of any kind. And in fact, being considered self employed, I would not even be considered eligible for unemployment benefits unless I was unable to make any money at all for an extended period (which I beleive is one year.) To survive the economic calamity, I had to exhaust my savings and I had to borrow to the maximum amount possible against my home. Still I was luckier than many. I never had to declare bankruptcy and I never had to have my home in foreclosure.
Now, I am thankful to be having my first good year in four years. Still, I am a long way from recovering. I have much larger debts to pay off and I would need probably another 4 good years to be back where I was before all of this began.
With this good fortune also comes an increase in taxes. In a way, I am grateful that I am back to where I can even consider taxes a problem BUT my issue is that taxes should be reasonable. Although I am having a good year, I definitely cant be considered one of the wealthiest in the country. Say whatever you want, but I am telling you from my personal experience that our current tax structure kills growth.
Getting past the rhetoric and into some hard numbers to illustrate my point. Consider the following taxes, I have to pay:
Next there is 6% sales tax. There is tax on my energy bills. There is tax on my phone bills. There is tax on gasoline. There is tax on my insurance bills. There is tax for licensing my car. There is a tax for having a pet. There is a tax on healthcare. Now with Obamacare, there is tax for not only healthcare but also for health insurance.
The bottom line here is that it is EASY to get to 60% of your income going to taxes. In fact, it really isn't too hard to get to 70% when you consider all the ways that the government(s) tax(es) you.
How is it fair to have to send two thirds of your income to the government and only be allowed to keep one third for your family? How can we claim that we are promoting growth when someone has to make three times the amount that they lost just to break even?
I am not an anarchist. I beleive that the government serves an important purpose. So I am not advocating no government or no taxes. HOWEVER, there is something wrong when the government wants to cry foul and vilify people who are paying taxes. If the government is having to take 60 to 70% of a citizens income and STILL can't balance its budget, that government is spending too much.
I hear the news and the current administration attacking the Tea Party movement. I would not identify myself as a member of this movement but I have to come to their defense. For all of the President's talk about fairness, I would say that the very underlying principle of the Tea Party is really about fairness. There ought to be a reasonable limit on government spending and there ought to be a reasonable limit on the maximum amount of taxes (all taxes) that an individual should have to pay.
Stepping off my soapbox. Just my opinion.
David
David W. McCoy
Associate Broker
Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate
10444 Bluegrass Pkwy
Louisville, KY 40299
BTW - I also offer advice and opinions on Real Estate. In fact, I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker and I specialize in Commercial Real Estate. I handle Office, Industrial, Retail, Investment and Commercial Land properties. I help Landlords, Tenants, Buyers, Sellers and Investors in Sales and Leasing properties. I would love to help you as well.
ALSO - I am sure that my Managing Broker would appreciate me stressing that the opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate, its employees or brokers. I am happy to hear comments either pro or con and you may feel free to post them if you would like. I am not however happy to have hateful or inappropriate comments and I will exercise my right to delete those which I deem so.
We hear a lot from our President and in his campaign about instituting fairness in taxation. Some of my young friends have expressed nearly rabid opinions to me about how unfair things are. As I mentioned in a previous post, fairness is a difficult thing to define or measure. So instead of doing that, let's have a simple case study - me.
It is no secret that the last several years have been extraordinarily difficult for real estate. Homeowners, real estate brokers, builders, people in the construction industries have all suffered tremendously in this economy. I for one have been barely scraping by for the last 4 years. My job has no base salary. I am only paid if there is a lease or sale by commission only and there is no guaranteed minimum wage.
During that period of time, I never recieved any government assistance of any kind. And in fact, being considered self employed, I would not even be considered eligible for unemployment benefits unless I was unable to make any money at all for an extended period (which I beleive is one year.) To survive the economic calamity, I had to exhaust my savings and I had to borrow to the maximum amount possible against my home. Still I was luckier than many. I never had to declare bankruptcy and I never had to have my home in foreclosure.
Now, I am thankful to be having my first good year in four years. Still, I am a long way from recovering. I have much larger debts to pay off and I would need probably another 4 good years to be back where I was before all of this began.
With this good fortune also comes an increase in taxes. In a way, I am grateful that I am back to where I can even consider taxes a problem BUT my issue is that taxes should be reasonable. Although I am having a good year, I definitely cant be considered one of the wealthiest in the country. Say whatever you want, but I am telling you from my personal experience that our current tax structure kills growth.
Getting past the rhetoric and into some hard numbers to illustrate my point. Consider the following taxes, I have to pay:
- Federal Income Tax - rate approximately 28%
- Medicare, FICA, SSA taxes PLUS self employment tax - approximately 15.5%
- State Income Tax - rate approximately 6%
- Local Income Tax - rate approximately 2.2%
- State Sales Tax - 6%
- Property Tax - Approximately 1% of the assessed value (this is low because these taxes just increased)
Next there is 6% sales tax. There is tax on my energy bills. There is tax on my phone bills. There is tax on gasoline. There is tax on my insurance bills. There is tax for licensing my car. There is a tax for having a pet. There is a tax on healthcare. Now with Obamacare, there is tax for not only healthcare but also for health insurance.
The bottom line here is that it is EASY to get to 60% of your income going to taxes. In fact, it really isn't too hard to get to 70% when you consider all the ways that the government(s) tax(es) you.
How is it fair to have to send two thirds of your income to the government and only be allowed to keep one third for your family? How can we claim that we are promoting growth when someone has to make three times the amount that they lost just to break even?
I am not an anarchist. I beleive that the government serves an important purpose. So I am not advocating no government or no taxes. HOWEVER, there is something wrong when the government wants to cry foul and vilify people who are paying taxes. If the government is having to take 60 to 70% of a citizens income and STILL can't balance its budget, that government is spending too much.
I hear the news and the current administration attacking the Tea Party movement. I would not identify myself as a member of this movement but I have to come to their defense. For all of the President's talk about fairness, I would say that the very underlying principle of the Tea Party is really about fairness. There ought to be a reasonable limit on government spending and there ought to be a reasonable limit on the maximum amount of taxes (all taxes) that an individual should have to pay.
Stepping off my soapbox. Just my opinion.
David
David W. McCoy
Associate Broker
Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate
10444 Bluegrass Pkwy
Louisville, KY 40299
BTW - I also offer advice and opinions on Real Estate. In fact, I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker and I specialize in Commercial Real Estate. I handle Office, Industrial, Retail, Investment and Commercial Land properties. I help Landlords, Tenants, Buyers, Sellers and Investors in Sales and Leasing properties. I would love to help you as well.
ALSO - I am sure that my Managing Broker would appreciate me stressing that the opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate, its employees or brokers. I am happy to hear comments either pro or con and you may feel free to post them if you would like. I am not however happy to have hateful or inappropriate comments and I will exercise my right to delete those which I deem so.
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